Roswell Fanatics

Alien_Friend: Scrappy’s visit will be good for Andy… and bring up a few questions.

There’s nothing like a little fun to break up the tension.

Michael’s very lucky to have good friends who are so supportive.

We might just have more of that.

mary mary: Chris has been mentioned but only briefly and with no background included as of yet. There is, of course, more to that story.

What, don’t wanna get pegged with a water balloon?

begonia9508: Thanks!

Think he shouldn’t worry, huh? We’ll see about that. You’re right, Andy does love his mother and he wants her to be happy, but accepting another man in her life might take some time.

kismet: Their relationship is strong enough to withstand the problems they’re having.

Chris has only been mentioned briefly so far. We haven’t learned very much really about Michael’s past and Chris is just another piece of it. An important piece, but one that Michael wants to tell Maria about himself.

Bringing Scrappy to Roswell for Andy’s birthday was the best thing.

Think Andy’s gonna surprise them, huh? We’ll see.

Earth2Mama: Thanks!

Yep, and Scrappy’s visit will have Andy thinking about a few things.

Always. Always, always, always…

They’re getting there.

keepsmiling7: Scrappy was a good surprise.

She’s a sweetheart.

killjoy: Wet tee shirts… lol, well, it’s understandable that’s the first thing that came to mind, lol.

Eva: That would be fun, huh?

We’ll learn more about Chris soon. We haven’t had a chance to really delve into Michael’s past yet and Chris is an important part of it… but a part that Michael hasn’t had a chance to share with Maria because they’re really just now beginning to talk.

Andy will be told soon.

sarammlover: You’ll find out before long. It does seem like for every step forward they’re taking two back… but something will be changing soon. Lol, we’re another step closer to that too.


Part 61

Maria glanced around Michael’s backyard. Now after they had all eaten too much food the party had slowed down a little. Sam, the twins and Kara were sitting on a blanket on the ground, playing cards, while Andy and Scrappy lay on their backs staring up the sky while they talked. She smiled slightly when she saw the happy features in her son’s face. Yeah, it had been a good idea to bring his best friend to Roswell, she thought happily.

Tess and Kyle were sitting on the back steps with Alex and Isabel along with Jack and Shayna. It looked like they were involved in the middle of a heated debate. Max and Liz, well, they were still sitting at their places at the table. From the looks on their faces they were both far away and lost in their own thoughts.

Her gaze shifted over to Michael who was talking to someone on the phone while he walked through the garden and laughed now and then. Her heart made a little flip flop when his eyes met hers. I have to distract myself, she thought and looked at the table in front of her. Cleaning up was a good way to do that, she decided and picked up a few plates to carry them into the kitchen.

Michael’s gaze followed Maria when she took a handful of dishes into the house. He finished his call and put his phone away before taking a deep breath and heading in the same direction. He shot a glance over the backyard, hoping he wasn’t being obvious as he snapped his fingers to get Mojo’s attention. “C’mon, big guy, time for you to eat.”

Maria sang along with the radio that was playing one of her favorite songs outside, while she opened the dishwasher to place the used plates inside.

Michael leaned in the kitchen doorway, left shoulder braced on the doorframe and his right thumb hooked in his front pocket. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Maria dancing in place while loading the dishwasher. “Anyone ever told you just how beautiful you are?” he asked, hoping he wouldn’t scare her half to death.

She stopped in her tracks, feeling trapped in a situation where she had thought to be unwatched. “Good grief, Michael.”

He grinned and shook his head. “If no one’s tellin’ you on a daily basis then that really oughta change,” he continued with a wink. He pushed away from the doorframe and walked over to the pantry where Mojo’s food was stored. He filled the dog’s bowl and set it down before grabbing a jug of water out of the refrigerator and filling the other bowl. He shook his head when he caught Maria staring at him in disbelief. “No, I don’t buy water for him; he just prefers it cold.”

She laughed slightly. “I think your dog is a big, dangerous-looking, lazy teddy bear.”

“That would be an accurate description of him,” he said agreeably. He patted the dog’s side and Mojo looked up from his food, glancing between them before chowing down again. He motioned to the pile of steak bones she had scraped onto one plate. “I save those for Mojo.”

“Where should I put them?” She glanced at the refrigerator, amused. “Does he prefer them cold?”

Michael made a face at her. “He’s not that picky when it comes to steak bones.” He pulled a cabinet open and grabbed a plastic bowl and lid. He packed the bones inside and rolled his eyes when she just looked at the dog’s name scribbled on the lid. “What?”

“I doubt anyone would get something out of that bowl, Michael.”

He snorted. “Well, the bones are obvious, but every once in a while somethin’ goes in Mojo’s bowl that no one else would wanna eat. Unless his name happens to be Kyle and he thinks it’s somethin’ it’s not.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember Kyle eating something that was supposed to be dinner for Theo,” she laughed at the memory.

“See? Kyle lacks discrimination when it comes to food.” He held the lid up. “No warning label, he’s liable to eat it.”

“He should be fat like a big marshmallow.”

“Well, from what I’ve heard he and Tess can barely boil a pot of water between ‘em so he probably won’t be packin’ on any pounds right away,” he laughed.

Maria made a face. “Stop that.”

He grinned and shrugged as he put the lid on the bowl and pressed it down to seal it. He carried it over to the refrigerator and crouched down to find a place among everything Isabel had packed on the shelves. “Jeez, you’d think she’d moved in and set up house,” he complained. He glanced to the side when Mojo nudged his arm and he nodded at Maria. “Hey, would you mind givin’ him that last bone up there?”

“How about I give it to you and you give it him?”

“He’s not gonna bite,” he chuckled. “But, if you’re not comfortable givin’ it to him I’ll do it.”

She glanced at the dog, checking, before taking the bone. “Okay buddy, I’ll give this to you and you better not make me regret it, okay?” Maria said and took the bone between to fingers to hold it out for the dog.

Mojo glanced up at Michael, waiting for him to tell him it was okay before he took a hesitant step in her direction. Another couple of steps and he lowered his big head.

“Crouch down a little bit,” Michael said as he watched them. “Believe it or not, you intimidate him.”

“Uh-huh, yeah…” she said in disbelief and did what he had asked her to do.

The dog slid down until he was lying on the floor and he covered the last few feet between them with a strange sliding crawl. He looked up at her and waited, nose twitching at the scent of the bone, but making no move to take it.

“Just extend your hand out a little bit so he knows he can take it.”

“He’s a real sentimental, huh?” she said, amused as she opened her hand more.

“It took nearly six months before he’d come to me and take a bone or one of his toys without me goin’ through that process right there. He’s still hesitant about taking anything from me when I’m standin’.” He leaned back against the refrigerator, smiling when Mojo finally took the bone from her in the gentlest of moves. “I got him from a rescue organization. He had been taken from a couple who had beaten him repeatedly. Poor guy was scared to death of everything when I brought him home.”

“Awww, that’s just not right,” she said sadly while she watched the dog.

“No. He’s getting better though. Rotts are a good breed; they’ve just gotten a bad rep over time.” He leaned over to pet the big dog’s head.

She nodded. “Guess it’s just a question of who they’re with, right?”

“Yep, that’s it exactly. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to have any kind of pet.” He smiled when Mojo dropped his bone and scooted forward to lay his head on Maria’s foot. “Big guy wants some love,” he chuckled.

“Will he be okay if I touch him?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah. That’s his way of lettin’ you know he wants to be petted.”

Maria smiled and reached out to let her hand run along the big dog’s head. She repeated the movement a few times before she dared to even let her finger go deeper to scratch Mojo behind his ears.

Mojo made a soft sighing sound as he turned his head to lean into her touch.

Michael snorted. “You’ve found a good spot. You’ve got a friend for life now.”

“Think he and Theo could get along?”

“Yeah, that day we ran into each other in the park he wasn’t bothered by Theo. Now, he’ll try to hide from Isabel’s cats and they’ll stalk the poor fella all over the house.” It was a good thing if she wanted to know if their dogs could get along. He grinned as he stood and opened the refrigerator again. “Wanna drink?” he asked to stop himself from doing something really embarrassing in reaction to her question.

Maria shook her head. “No, thanks. I think I need to take a break with drinks, not used to it.”

“Lightweight,” he teased, pulling the door open further and motioning to the different drinks wedged together on the top shelf. He was surprised there was any light coming from inside with all the crap Isabel had packed in there. “I’ve apparently got a wide variety of drinks.” He bent over to glance inside. “Tea, Coke, Dr. Pepper... I don’t know why she didn’t get Pepsi since it’s sweeter. Oh, but she did get Snapple.” He moved a few things around, careful not to knock anything over. “Diet Pepsi? Ungh. Water and... what’s that? About a dozen different
flavors of Gatorade.”

“Which flavors?”

“Um... couple kinds of grape, blueberry-somethin’-or-other, cherry, raspberry, strawberry-kiwi, lemon-lime,” he made a face at that, “orange, and there might be a couple others buried in here somewhere.”

“I’ll take the kiwi one,” she decided.

He stretched to reach the back and grab the drink she had requested, thankfully pulling it out without knocking everything over. He uncapped it and grabbed a glass, pouring the weird pinkish-colored drink into it and handing it to her. He held the bottle that was still half-full up.
“Iz must’ve been thinkin’ about teenage boys when she bought bottles this size.”

“You shouldn’t complain too much about her, seems to me like she just wanted to be prepared.” She took the drink from him, glancing at it doubtfully.

He chuckled. “Do not let her hear that...” he winced when he glanced up and caught Isabel entering the room with a big smile on her face.

“Too late, my friend.” She looked at Maria. “It’s nice to know someone appreciates good planning.”

“Now, Iz, ya know that’s not the way I meant it.”

“Um-hmm.” She didn’t sound convinced. “Would you hand me two beers and three Gatorades, please? And no, it doesn’t matter what flavors. He has no sense of planning ahead when it comes to these things, Maria.” She shook her head at him as she accepted the drinks. “Don’t let him try to convince you any differently.”

Maria waited until she was gone until she laughed. “Guess you’d better be nice to her for the rest of the night.”

He smirked. “I have to be… otherwise I’ll never hear the end of it from her.” He tried to make his voice high-pitched as he continued. “Michael, do you have any idea how much work I put into…” he coughed, unable to hold that pitch for more than a few seconds. “You get the picture.”

Maria glanced back at Mojo, who made an agonized sound at Michael’s voice. “Don’t like that, huh?”

“Everybody’s a critic,” Michael muttered.

She nodded and glanced at the man in front of her. “Thanks for throwing the party here, not just for Kyle but also for Andy. He’s having fun even though he probably won’t admit it.”

“Not necessary, but you’re welcome,” he said with an easy smile.

“Guess we’d better get back outside before someone makes a comment about us being away for a little bit too long.”

He nodded. “Yeah, s’pose so,” he said reluctantly.

“Alright,” she scratched Mojo one more time. “I think we’re getting along good, huh?” she whispered to the dog before she stood up again.

Michael watched as Mojo snuffled a couple of times before sneezing. The dog shook his head as if to clear it and then walked over and pressed the top of his head against her leg. “He likes you,” he said with a chuckle. “He won’t do that to just anyone.”

“I was always good with dogs,” she teased and winked at him.

“Uh-huh,” he teased. “Even big bad Rotties?”

“Just made my first friend of that kind.”

“Then Mojo’s happy ‘bout that. Means he’ll always have a special place in your heart.” He grinned and patted the dog’s sides. “C’mon, buddy, let’s go back outside.”

*****

Tess had been watching her brother and his wife since they had arrived. Kara had run to greet them as soon as she had noticed them but the twins had hung back. Even though they were horsing around with the other boys she could see that something was wrong.

“What’s on your mind, beautiful?” Kyle asked as he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

“My brother and his family.”

He scanned the backyard, his sharp gaze locating each of them within seconds. “Yeah, you can see the tension in them.”

“How do we help them, Kyle?” She leaned back against him and sighed sadly. “They’re in so much pain and I don’t even think they know what to do.” Her fingers traced over his hand as she waited for his answer. He saw things that most people overlooked and she knew it wasn’t all due to his training as an agent.

“Babe, all we can do is be there for them.”

“Do you think Max will ever be able to deal with Drew’s death?” She swallowed hard. “Or with his guilt? I mean, you’ve known guys who have been through traumatic situations, right? Guys who came away from an accident feelin’ like they were at fault.”

“Yeah, I’ve known a few. He’ll deal with it when he can handle it or…”

She tipped her head back against his shoulder to look up at him. “Or what?”

“Or he’ll do his best to continue repressing it until somethin’ happens that triggers the memory of that day and he’ll have no choice but to face what happened.”

“What if that happens before he’s ready to deal with it?”

“We keep doin’ what we’ve been doin’.”

“Just be there for them,” she said quietly. “Maybe we could take the kids tomorrow afternoon. Go see a movie or take them to the park, just get them out of the house for a little while. Give Max and Liz some time together.”

“Maybe around noon?”

Tess chuckled and nodded. “Deal.”

“Sounds good to me.” He hugged her tighter and pressed a kiss to her neck. “Kinda like to sleep in and have a repeat of this mornin’.”

“Okay, but breakfast is on you tomorrow. I’m not getting up early to run to the café two mornings in a row.”

“We’ll work somethin’ out.”

“Hey, Valenti, quit slobberin’ on your girl and let’s play some ball,” Michael called as he bounced a basketball on the deck floor.

*****

Liz forced a smile when Tess finally cornered her in the kitchen. She had seen the speculative looks her sister-in-law had been shooting between her, Max and the kids so she had known it was only a matter of time before Tess tried to get her alone. She had managed to avoid her for the past hour but it looked like her luck had run out.

“What’s goin’ on, Liz?”

“Not much.” She grabbed a Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator. “Just getting a drink.”

“You and Max seem… distant.”

“Tess…”

“Hey, babe, can you hand me a beer?” Kyle asked as he entered the room behind her. “Your brother’s lookin’ for you.”

Tess started to ask him if he was sure about that when he gave a subtle nod of his head. “Okay.”

“She just wants to help, Liz,” he said after Tess had left them alone.

“I know,” she said quietly. “I’m just not sure she can help with this one.”

“She’s gonna suggest that you guys let us take the kids tomorrow… take her up on the offer.”

“I don’t know that tomorrow’s gonna be a good day for that, Kyle.” Max wasn’t going to want to spend the day at home, just the two of them, after the morning they’d had.

“Are things at home getting worse?”

“They’re not getting any better.” She sighed and looked away. “I found out he’ll be leaving for another trip on Monday.”

Kyle studied her body language as he leaned back against the counter and took a drink of his beer. “You found out… He didn’t tell you?”

“No, I overheard him talking to Alex about it.”

“Hasn’t he been helpin’ Max with the meetings? Getting them scheduled an’ stuff?” He shrugged when she nodded. “Okay, then what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that he’s not talking to me about it.”

“Uh-huh.” He could hear the edge in her voice. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Liz, but if I was Max I probably wouldn’t have been rushin’ home to tell you I had to go outta town again either.”

“What?”

“You’ve always been supportive of him and I know the situation hasn’t been easy but where these trips are concerned,” he shook his head, “supportive isn’t the word I’d use.”

“The trips are only creating more distance between us.” She crossed her arms over her chest as she looked outside. “He’s using it as an excuse to not deal with things.”

“Maybe he can’t deal with what happened yet, Liz. You remember me tellin’ you I didn’t think getting your hands on that accident report was a good idea? I know you’re tryin’ to help him, but you’re pushin’ him to deal with a traumatic event that mentally and emotionally he’s not ready for yet. The trips are a necessity and he doesn’t seem to particularly enjoy them.”

“You think I’m being unreasonable.”

“I think you’re lettin’ your fears get the best of you.” He took another drink and nodded at the window in the dining room, directing her attention to Maria. “He’s not his brother, Liz. Those business trips are somethin’ he’s gotta do and if he’s usin’ them for distance it’s because you’re pushin’ too hard.”

“God, I’m not usually like this,” she said after a few minutes of contemplation. She rubbed her face with her hands and sighed heavily.

“I know this isn’t easy for any of you, and you’ve gotta be just about at the end of your rope, but you’ve gotta hang on… and as much as you probably don’t wanna hear it, lettin’ him deal with this at a pace he can handle may be your only option.”

*****

Max was sitting on the porch swing watching Kara play with the dog when someone sat down beside him and he turned his head to the side. “What’s goin’ on, Tess?”

“Nothin’ much. Just thought I’d ask how things are goin’ with Missy,” she said, opting for a safe topic.

“Missy, huh? She’s workin’ out well. Has the office organized and my mechanics are happy with the workload, so I can’t complain.” He glanced up at the window that looked out over the backyard. “You and Kyle make quite the team… think you can fix our problems if you tackle it from both sides?”

She ignored the sarcasm in his voice. “I think you’re tryin’ to avoid dealing with Drew’s death and Liz is trying to get you to deal with it and it’s pushin’ the two of you apart.”

He sighed and shifted further over. “Don’t start with me, Tess.”

“Max, I’m not tryin’ to piss you off or hurt you,” she said quietly. “You guys are fallin’ apart and your kids are hurtin’ over it. I just… I just wish you’d let someone help you. I know the trips are causing more pressure – “

“I’m not takin’ the trips because I want to,” he snapped, his voice low.

“Damn it, Max, why’re you takin’ my head off? I know you don’t like to be away from your family like that. All I was sayin’ is the pressure can’t be helpin’ things at home an’ I thought if it’s okay with you Kyle and I would take the kids for a few hours tomorrow afternoon.”

He winced when he realized he had hurt her feelings. “I’m sorry, Tess. There’s just a lot goin’ on and I feel like I’m goin’ backwards no matter what I do.” He rubbed his jaw as he turned to watch his kids for a minute. “I’m not sure Liz’ll be interested in us spendin’ the afternoon alone, but it’d probably be good for the kids to get outta the house and away from all the tension.”

“So… maybe we could pick them up around noon?”

Max glanced at the window again, catching Liz’ eyes and seeing the confusion and sadness in them. Now that he knew why the trips were causing such a problem he wanted to be rid of them even more. It was going to take time for that to happen though, so in the meantime it was important to make sure Liz knew he wasn’t going anywhere. It was a situation that was only worsening and they were both playing a role in it. Maybe an afternoon alone would give them a chance to figure some things out.

guelbebek: Thanks! We hope so too… they’ll let us know soon enough.

There is more of that to come.

begonia9508: Thanks! There is a lot at stake here and it’s a good thing that they have people on their side who are willing to tell them like it is.

mary mary: Men…

We’ll see soon enough if either of them were really listening.

Natalie36: Oh, they can if they just deal with things. We’re glad you’re lovin’ Mojo, he’s a sweetheart!

Eva: You know it! Max and Liz are too close to the situation and it’s reached a point where they can’t see what’s right in front of them. A little outside advice might just be the thing they need to start finding their way again.

Earth2Mama: You’re so right… and they are getting there. Slowly but surely.

keepsmiling7: No, right now they’re definitely not making any headway. But they will get there.

Alien_Friend: Hopefully something those two said gets through to Max and/or Liz.

We’ll have more of them.

sarammlover: He’s pretty awesome. We’ll see what effect his advice has. We’re biased, of course, but they’re gonna be worth the wait!

killjoy: Yes, we know.

Max and Liz will get back to a place where they can figure things out. Eventually.

Liz is pushing too hard, but as Kyle pointed out, she’s reacting out of fear. What she hasn’t been able to see is that her fear of losing him as he continues to withdraw is only becoming a reality the more she pushes.

We’ll see soon if she’ll take what Kyle said to heart.


A/N: Thanks for the nomintations in Part A of the voting, guys!!!



Part 62

“Hey, man, what’s up?” Scrappy asked as he dropped down to sit next to Andy. He tossed him one of the drinks he had just snagged and stretched out to rest on his elbows in the grass.

“Nothin’ much,” Andy mumbled as he focused on opening the drink while shooting sideways glances at his uncle.

Scrappy turned his head to follow his gaze. He knew how touchy his buddy was about anything related to his Uncle Max, but he had gotten his nickname because he wasn’t afraid of getting into things that other people might think twice about. “Uh-huh, you ever gonna talk to him?”

“Why do you care?” Andy snapped, jerking on the stubborn cap and ending up with blue Gatorade spilled on his jeans. It only irritated him further but before he could say a word his good friend imparted him with a statement that shut him up.

“’Cause you might have a right to be upset, but no one enjoys bein’ around a dick all the time, man.” He pushed his baseball cap back and looked up at Andy. “Me an’ you, we’ve been buds a long time, so I figure that kinda gives me the right to call you out on your behavior.” He nodded at the man sitting alone on the back porch. “Dude’s sufferin’, man. You’re not the only one who lost someone that day. You told me what happened an’ I know you’re tryin’ to deal with it…” he shook his head. “An’ hey, you’re makin’ progress, but eventually ya know you’re gonna have to just have it out with him.”

“I ain’t got nothin’ to say to him and I don’t wanna talk about it, Scrap. Now find somethin’ else to talk about or get lost.”

Scrappy just snorted. “Man, get up off your whiny little girl ass an’ go talk to him. Just take a step; it doesn’t have to be anything earth-shattering. I flew across the country to see you for your birthday an’ I’d like to know that you at least did this one thing.”

“Sometimes I really hate you,” Andy growled.

He just grinned and pushed his glasses up higher on his nose. “I know… and I don’t really care.”

“Fine, I’ll do this, but then you get off my ass about him. Deal?”

“Deal.” He raised his eyebrows expectantly when Andy made no sign of moving. “Well?”

“What, now?”

“Uh-huh, might as well get it over with.”

Andy got up and crossed the yard, stepping up on the porch and throwing himself down on the other end of the swing. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at the dog lying a few feet away. What was he supposed to talk about? God, he didn’t have anything to say to his uncle. Why’d Scrappy have to be so insistent about this of all things? “So… how come you’re hangin’ out by yourself?” he asked, struggling to come up with something… anything to talk about.

Max was surprised when Andy showed up on the porch because he normally couldn’t get far enough away from him. “Just sittin’ here watchin’ what’s going on.”

“Why aren’t you out there?” he asked, motioning to where the twins were playing football with Michael, Uncle Kyle and Jack. “You used to always be in the middle of things with the family.”

“Had a headache all day, just don’t feel like playin’,” Max said and it was at least partly true. “So,” he coughed slightly to clear his throat, “I guess I didn’t get a chance before to say happy birthday, Andy.”

“Thanks.” He felt like an idiot sitting there with nothing to say. What did they have to talk about? His gaze landed on Aunt Tess where she was leaning on the railing with Shayna, shouting at their guys. “So... um... what Aunt Tess was sayin’... is that true?”

Max frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You an’ Aunt Liz... are you guys, I don’t know, like bein’ pushed apart?”

Damn, he hadn’t realized anyone had overheard their conversation. That wasn’t anything he wanted to discuss with his nephew but he knew the boy would wait for an answer. “We’re just all a little bit stressed right now.”

“Is goin’ outta town makin’ things worse for you guys like she said?”

“It’s not helpin’,” Max admitted.

“Then why’re you doin’ it?” he asked angrily.

“Because there’re things that need to be done for the business, Andy.”

“Family’s more important.”

“But you’ve gotta earn money for the family as well.”

“What’s it matter if you lose your family?”

“Nobody’s losin’ anymore family here, Andy,” Max gritted out. “There’re a few things that need to be done whether you want it or not.”

“Yeah,” Andy snorted. “Tell it to someone who hasn’t been there, Uncle Max.”

Max bit his lip to stop himself from saying something rude. “Why don’t you go back to your guests and have fun?”

Why had he let Scrappy bully him into this again? “Kids aren’t as clueless as parents like to hope we are.”

Max wondered if this sentence was dedicated to his family or the relationship Maria and Andrew had been in. “And parents will always try to do what’s best for their families.”

“Yeah, I guess.” He shrugged and looked away, struggling to verbalize his thoughts. “Dad... he traveled a lot and he missed a lotta things at home.” He shrugged. “Just sayin’.”

“I know that wasn’t easy for you and your mom,” Max nodded.

“No, and ya know what? You’re the one who told Dad the company was big enough.” He shoved himself to his feet. “Maybe you should listen to yourself.”

Max sighed, wishing it was that easy. He knew that the boy was just speaking in the interest of the twins and Kara so he just nodded.

Andy shook his head and turned to make sure no one had noticed them talking. “Great talkin’ to ya, Uncle Max,” he muttered as he headed for the steps.

*****

Liz took the seat Andy had deserted a while ago, resting her arm along the back of the swing so that her fingertips brushed against her husband’s shoulder. “Hey,” she said quietly.

He glanced at her, not ready for another attack. “Hey.”

“I saw Andy come over here and it looked like things got a little heated. Everything okay?”

“Things are just great, Liz.” He stared at the bottle of coke he held between his hands. “Just one more person who thinks I’m makin’ one mistake after another,” he muttered.

“Max, I know it’s difficult for the two of you to be around each other, but – “

“No, Liz, what’s difficult is havin’ to repeatedly go over my mistakes.”

Her hand clenched on his shoulder. His voice was filled with exhaustion, resignation and guilt. “You have nothing to feel guilty for,” she insisted.

“I don’t wanna talk about it and I sure as hell don’t wanna talk about it here,” he bit out.

Kara peered around the doorframe when she heard them. Her bottom lip quivered when she heard the angry undertones in their voices. She shook her head when Mommy looked up and noticed her and motioned for her to join them. Her gaze scanned the backyard and she ran down the steps and across the yard to throw herself down between Uncle Kyle and Aunt Tess where they were sitting on a blanket talking.

“Hey, what’s wrong, short stuff?” Kyle asked, reaching down and rubbing her shoulder.

“Mommy and Daddy’s mad,” the little girl said as she glanced between her aunt and uncle.

Tess shot a quick look at her brother and his wife. They both looked miserable and a small part of her was glad. What they were putting their children through was ridiculous.

“Did you find the cake while you were inside?” Kyle asked as he wiped away a bit of chocolate from the corner of her mouth to distract her.

“It’s very good,” Kara smiled.

“Um-hmm,” he tickled her sides, “an’ you didn’t even bring any out to share with us.”

“We can get more?”

Tess smiled and hugged her. “You’d better stop sneakin’ bits of that cake or there won’t be anything left for later.”

Kara giggled and leaned against her aunt. “Why’s Mommy and Daddy mad?” she asked after a while.

She sighed and glanced at Kyle. “They’re just...” She made a ‘help me’ face at him and he nodded with a smile.

Kyle stretched out on his side and rested his weight on his right elbow. “Ya know how you an’ the twins sometimes fight about things?”

The little girl bit her lip and nodded.

“You ‘member fightin’ with Justin about Ari last week ‘cause he put tape on the cat’s feet? It made Ari mad and then you got mad at your brother for doin’ that, right?”

“It was mean!”

Kyle controlled his expression. He had put tape down and just waited for Isabel’s cats to walk across it more than once. It drove them insane but they were hilarious while they had a major freak-out and tried to rid themselves of it. “It wasn’t nice,” he agreed. “But you guys had a big fight about it and after you calmed down you guys said you were sorry and you felt better.”

Kara nodded while she thought about it.

“Well, it’s kinda the same thing. Mommy and Daddy just haven’t quite settled everything yet.” He took one of her hands and pressed a kiss to it.

“But they will, right?”

“They’re gonna figure it out, short stuff,” he promised. “I know it’s hard right now but you just keep believin’ in ‘em, okay?”

“Maybe we can help them?” the girl wondered aloud.

He smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “Whatcha think, Aunt Tess?”

“We were planning to take you kids out tomorrow, whatcha say?”

“That will help Mommy an’ Daddy?” she asked uncertainly.

“Yeah, they’ll have some time on their own.”

“What we’re gonna do?”

“Hmm, do you have any suggestions?”

She bit her bottom lip, thinking. “Did you seen the ponies?”

Kyle glanced at Tess. Ponies? he mouthed silently.

She shrugged. “What about the ponies, sweetie?”

“The pony rides,” she insisted. “I seened them. Nicky knows where.”

Kyle chuckled. Not really something he was looking forward to, but oh, well.... if it would make the little girl happy.

“I hear somebody talkin’ about ponies over here?” Jack asked as he and Shayna joined them.

“Me,” Kara cheered.

“You guys headin’ to that rodeo next town over?”

Kyle shrugged. “Someplace with pony rides. That might be where it’s at.”

“You don’t want a pony, little lady.” Jack winked at the little girl. “Tell ya what, invite us along an’ I’ll take ya for a ride on a real horse.”

Kara’s eyes grew big and sparkled with excitement. “Really?” she whispered.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a grin.

“Jack, so help me, if you enter yourself in another bull riding contest...” Shayna shook her head at him, knowing that if he could he would.

Kyle ginned at his partner. “Could be interesting.”

Jack pushed his hat back as he crouched down in front of them. “Whatcha think, little lady? Wanna see ol’ Jack ride a bull?”

“Yes,” she clapped her hands, excited.

He hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Tell ya what, if I can convince the boss, I’ll see what I can do about that.”

Kara glanced at Shayna with a pleading look on her face. “May we go?”

Shayna shook her head at Jack and smiled. She had her doubts he’d manage to get on a bull with his arm broken but she had never turned down an opportunity to watch him compete. There was something hot about watching him fighting to hold onto one of those damn bulls. “Tess, how do you feel about an afternoon of rodeo?”

“I think that could be fun,” she glanced at Kyle and winked.

He snorted. “I hope you don’t think I’m signin’ up for anything.”

“We’re only goin’ for the eye candy, boys,” Shayna said with a teasing smile at them.

“Right,” Tess nodded. “And Kyle I sure as hell hope you mean that because I don’t wanna have a whining man in my apartment the next few days.”

Kyle just shook his head at her. “Have you ever paid any attention to rodeo events? I’ve got better sense than that and I kinda like my body all bein’ in one piece.”

“Pussy,” Jack laughed deeply and shoved his partner slightly.

Kara looked up at Uncle Kyle with a frown. “Why he’s callin’ you a kitty cat, Untel Tyle?”

“He was just making a joke, sweetie,” Tess said and shook her head at the men.

“Oh.” She turned to look at Jack. “You’re not very funny.”

“Hey what’s goin’ on over here?” Nick asked when the twins joined the little group and fell on the blanket.

“Untel Tyle an’ Auntie Tess’s gonna take us to the wodeo tomorrow,” Kara informed them. “An’ I get to ride a horsey an’ Jack might be gonna ride a bull.”

“Seriously, a rodeo?” Justin asked, excited.

Nick rolled his eyes. “Good grief, we’ll be bringin’ him home wearin’ a cowboy hat,” he muttered, giving his brother a shove.

“You could stay home...” Justin suggested.

“Oh, yeah, I’m gonna stay home and put up with the fightin’ or the dead silence... Thanks for the suggestion, moron.”

“Don’t fight,” Kara complained.

“We’re not fightin’, baby girl,” Nick assured her.

“When do we go?” Tess asked while her hand ran through the little girl’s hair.

“You guys wanna go to lunch before headin’ out there?” Kyle asked, glancing at the kids.

“Yeah, why not,” Nick agreed. “Who knows how long it’ll take to get Justin away from there.”

He grinned at his nephew. “I’ll have to call around, get some information, but I’d imagine they’ll have stuff goin’ on all afternoon.”

Tess and Shayna glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. “Yay,” they said, considerably less excited than the boys.

*****

Andy was sitting on the swing, listening to the conversations going on around him without really paying attention to any single one of them. It was early in the evening and everyone was enjoying the opportunity to just hang out and relax. Grandma and Grandpa had just left a little while ago and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer before they all started to head to their own homes. Justin was out in the middle of the backyard with Jack and Uncle Kyle, trying his hand at learning to rope while Jack supervised. Nick and Scrappy were close by debating their favorite football teams and Kara was sitting on the porch next to Mojo, cradling the dog’s head in her lap and carrying on a one-sided conversation with him.

He looked up when movement caught his eye and he saw Sam going inside. He glanced down at the empty plate in his hand before looking around at the adults. Mom and Michael were in the middle of a conversation with Sam’s dad and Principal Russell. Aunt Liz was talking to Shayna and it looked like Aunt Tess and Uncle Max were carrying on their own conversation. No one even noticed when he slipped off of the swing and went inside.

“Hey, whatcha doin’?” he asked when he saw her leaning to the side to look out into the backyard.

Sam shrugged. “Just watchin’ my dad.”

“You feelin’ any better ‘bout them datin’?”

“It’s still weird, but I realized somethin’ this morning while we were grocery shoppin’.”

“What’s that?”

She turned away from the window to look at him. “My dad’s lonely. An’ yeah, the whole her being the principal thing’s probably gonna be…” she made a face, “weird for a while, but he’s happy.” She shrugged. “He really likes her so I’m dealin’ with it.”

Andy glanced down when Sam reached for the plate he was holding and her fingers brushed against his. It felt like something had sent a shock up through his arm and he felt like he couldn’t breathe when he looked up and met her gaze. This was different than the feelings he’d had when Darren Scott’s sister Melinda had let him put his hand up under her shirt last summer. He hadn’t had a clue what he was doing but it had felt pretty damned good even as nervous as he had been.

Sam set the plate on the counter next to the sink without ever breaking eye contact. Her stomach felt like someone had turned a bunch of butterflies loose and they were all trying to get out at the same time.

“Hey, you guys comin’ back outside?” Nick asked breathlessly. “Looks like Justin’s new hero’s gonna be takin’ off here pretty soon an’ your dad said you guys were goin’ to a movie tonight, Sam.”

“Oh, crap, I forgot about that.”

“Cool, we’ll be right there,” Andy said, nodding at his cousin. He waited until Nick had gone back outside to take Sam’s hand and tug her out of the room and down the hall. They ducked into what looked like a den and he glanced around at the comfortable furniture. His gaze bounced over the framed pictures hanging on one of the walls without resting on any of them long enough to remember anything he had seen.

“I wish we had more time,” she whispered.

“Me too.” Andy turned to look at her, suddenly realizing just how close they were standing to each other. He wiped his damp palms on his jeans and smiled nervously when she shifted a little closer. He glanced down at her hand when she lifted it to touch his jaw and he could feel his heart hammering in his chest. He reached up to brush her hair back, his eyes tracing over her features before settling on her lips.

Sam was nearly holding her breath when he slowly started to lean in closer. She couldn’t remember ever wanting anything more than she wanted to kiss him right now and her eyes started to slide closed as she moved in to meet him halfway.

*****

Eva: Scrappy’s used to observing people and his instincts about them are usually fairly accurate.

We’re pretty sure they’ll remember their first kiss. Us? Spoil the moment? Perhaps we’ll just let this one pass by without interruption. Just for you.

Earth2Mama: Lol, our young couple gets a pass this time out.

mary mary: Scrappy’s a good kid with excellent observation skills. We’ll find out soon what happens at the rodeo and at home.

Next week… arrives.

begonia9508: Lol, well, we can hope anyway, right?

Thank goodness for Scrappy being there to push Andy in the right direction.

No, the kids need that to be over… like now!

Natalie36: Thanks for reading!

Cardinal: Definitely an important moment. We’ll see how Andy handles it when it’s his turn to deal with that situation.

Alien_Friend: Definitely.

Scrappy knows which buttons to push to motivate his good buddy. Andy knows what it’s like for Dad to not be there much so his insight into things from that perspective could be helpful to Max. They will talk more… in time.

Thanks!

killjoy: Liz has made her mistakes… just like everyone else. The question is whether or not she will do anything with the advice she’s been given.

You just never know what’ll happen when you get these guys together. Although we’re not sure just how much Tess would appreciate that.

kismet: Yes, he is.

And yes, they will be.

It will be worth it when the two of them finally get to a place where they just get it all out there. It’s going to take time but they will get there.

sarammlover: He didn’t pull any punches there, did he? Lol. It’s always possible that Andy will see the same thing with his mom and Michael… guess we’ll find out soon.



Part 63

Liz kept an eye on her husband as they said their goodbyes and prepared to leave the party. Was Kyle right about what he had said earlier? Was she pushing too hard? She could see the worn slump to his shoulders as if he was carrying something too heavy to bear and she let her thoughts drift over the past few months when things had started to deteriorate between them. Yes, things had steadily been getting worse as he withdrew more and more after Andrew’s death, but things had only started to escalate with the pressure she had put on him to deal with it.

She forced the smile to stay put when she felt it slipping at the realization that she was responsible for a lot of the distance between them. She wasn’t solely responsible for it, but she had only aggravated an already tenuous situation and made it worse. Her gaze fell over their children when they left the house after one last round of hugs, birthday wishes and goodbyes.

The kids had quickly taken the lead, putting plenty of space between themselves and their parents. It was just one more piece of evidence that their family was falling apart. She glanced up at Max as he walked silently beside her and she wondered where his thoughts were. His eyes were on the kids but his mind was someplace else entirely.

She sighed as she thought about his impending trip. She knew she needed to make peace with him before he left, knew they needed to settle at least a few things to make the temporary separation easier on their family. They needed to be in a better place as a couple before he got on that plane on Monday morning.

Max didn’t know what to say or to do to make things better at the moment. What could he do to show his wife that he still cared about his family and that he wasn’t even considering a split or anything else? Was she?

Liz could feel the hesitation in him and it hurt. They had never been a couple who couldn’t talk to each other, who had wondered where they stood with each other before this had happened and she didn’t like that things had come to this between them. Would he even be receptive to talking now? “Max...”

He glanced up, surprised when he heard her speak and he wondered if it had been just in his imagination.

“I’d like for us to really talk about things,” she said after a moment.

“Liz...” he croaked, not wanting to go over the fact that his brother was dead and he needed to get over it again.

“No, Max... not... not about the accident. I’d just like for the two of us to talk about US and just get back to a place where we’re in this together again. And I’m not placing the blame for that on you... a lot of it’s been me and I didn’t even really realize it until today.”

Her words felt good. She still was talking about them as us.

Liz drew in a deep breath when he didn’t respond. What if she had pushed him too far away? “I don’t want you to leave on Monday mornin’ with this thing just hangin’ between us.”

Max didn’t know what to say. He knew she was trying to make things better and he knew it had never been her intention to put the distance between them, but hell, it hadn’t been his intention either. It had just happened. With a deep sigh, he shifted closer to her while they walked until he was able to wrap one arm around her shoulders.

Relief washed over her at the simple gesture. It was a good sign, one that meant he was open to her suggestion. “It’ll be good for us to have some time together, just the two of us, tomorrow afternoon.”

“Yeah,” he coughed slightly when his voice sounded strange to his own ears, “I already heard that my sister’s plannin’ to take them out.”

She nodded. “They’re taking them to a rodeo of all things.” She shook her head as she looked at Justin.

“You’re okay with that?”

“Well, you’re the one who keeps sayin’ he’ll outgrow this phase.” She shook her head. “I’m not so sure about that though with the way he followed Jack around all day, eating up his rodeo tales.”

“Guess we can’t prevent him from going there, huh? If we tell him no for tomorrow then he’ll find a different way at a different time.”

“And I thought football was bad,” she groaned.

He chuckled. “We can still hope that he’ll decide rodeo isn’t as great as he thinks it is.”

“I suppose. What is it men find so great about bull riding?”

“What is it with women having 100 pairs of shoes?” he countered.

She bumped her hip against his. “It’s not the same thing,” she denied.

“It so is,” he shook his head.

She snorted at that and slipped her arm around his waist as she leaned into his side.

He enjoyed feeling her body close to his. Even after so many years it felt like the most right thing on earth. “I love you, Liz. No matter where we are right now, I still love you like I did in high school.”

Her eyes teared up at his admission and she stopped walking to turn and look up at him. “Don’t ever think I’ve doubted that, Max,” she whispered as she reached up to cup his jaw. “And, God, even with everything that's been going on I could never imagine not being in love with you.”

He nodded, relieved. “Our feelings are strong, we’re gonna get though this.”

Several hundred feet ahead of them Justin shoved Nick to get his attention and he nodded at their parents when his brother looked at him.

The other boy smiled a little. “Seems like things are a little bit better between them.”

“Told you they weren’t getting a...” he glanced down at Kara, “d-i-v-o-r-c-e.”

“Yeah,” Nick said hopefully.

“So maybe tomorrow’ll be a good day for all of us.”

“A good day,” Kara shouted.

Liz turned her head to look at the kids, wondering what they were talking about and she smiled to herself. “We will get through this,” she said, determined.

*****

Michael grabbed another handful of stuff to carry inside, glancing at Andy as he passed him to go into the house. The boy was messing around with the new cell phone he’d gotten as a gift from his mother but his eyes were constantly darting across the deck. He smiled when he saw what held the boy’s attention and he shook his head when he saw the face-splitting smile on Sam’s face when she glanced up and caught Andy watching her. She gave a little wave before pretending interest in whatever her father was talking about as they prepared to leave.

He didn’t bother reining in the grin when Isabel came over to stop him before he went inside. “Was there somethin’ I can help ya with, Principal Russell?” he teased. “Wanna get outta clean-up duty after you instigated this mess?”

“What? No.” She started squirming and then sighed loudly. “Okay, yes, I do. Sam suggested that I go to the movies with them and that’s a pretty big step for her, so…”

“Go on, Iz, I’ve got this.” He chuckled when she hugged him tightly. “You do know you’re gonna have your hands full, don’t you?”

Isabel glanced between Sam and Andy. “Yes, I do know part of the reason she invited me along is because Alex was asking where the two of them disappeared to a while ago and she was trying to distract him. Now ask me do I care?”

Michael just shook his head at her. “Have fun, Iz.”

She glanced around, seeing that Kyle and Tess were the only others there besides Maria, Andy and his best friend. The other couple was getting ready to leave too so it wouldn’t be long before he was along with the two boys and Maria. “You too,” she said with a wink. “I’ll come by tomorrow and give you a hand with whatever’s left.”

He waved her off. “Get outta here.”

“And you might wanna not drool over Maria while Andy’s here,” she teased him lightly. It was good to see him finally interested in a woman, now she just hoped that it worked out for him. He deserved a family and some happiness.

He rolled his eyes at her. “I think I’ve got the droolin’ thing under control.”

“Do ya drool while sleepin’?” Andy asked. He just overheard the last few words between Michael and Principal Russell.

Michael shook his head at Isabel when she started laughing. She waved over her shoulder as she walked back to Alex and Sam. “Not anymore,” he said in response to Andy’s question.

“Hey Guerin, Tess and I are gonna go without helpin’ to clean up,” Kyle called from the garden and smirked.

Tess smacked the back of her hand against his stomach. “Could you be any more obvious?” she hissed. “Or rude?” She shook her head at him.

“What? Better to tell him than leave without a word. Right, Michael?”

He set the things he’d collected on the table and joined them. “Happy birthday again, Valenti,” he said and gave him a brief hug and a slap on the back. “Now, let this woman of yours take you home and make a man out of you.”

“Oh, does that mean birthday boys don’t have to help clean up?” Andy asked when he was about to collect some empty bottles.

Scrappy stepped out of the house and hurried to join Andy. “Dude, you know I love your mom, but she’s threatenin’ to make me wash dishes.”

Michael grinned and hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’d better go before these guys get roped into getting their hands wet.”

“Yeah, that’d be a shame wouldn’t it?” Tess said, amused. She knew that Michael couldn’t think of anything better than to wash dishes with Maria. “We’re gonna go. Have a nice evening.”

“Yeah, you too,” Andy said with a smirk. He snorted when Aunt Tess just shook her head at him and he sat down on the deck beside Mojo, scratching the dog’s ears. “Hey, Michael, you got anything to do? Playstation or whatever?”

“Playstation?” Maria asked, standing on the porch. “Why don’t the two of you start to clean up the garden?”

“But, Mom,” he complained, “it’s my birthday. Uncle Kyle didn’t have to help clean up.”

“Let them have their fun,” Michael said when he reached her.

“It won’t hurt them to help out...” the words trailed off when he picked up a stack of dishes and looked at her.

“I don’t mind helpin’ out,” he said with a smile.

Scrappy shook his head slightly. Was he the only one who noticed that there was... something between Andy’s mom and this man? “Hey, we could head to your place,” he suggested. “I brought some new Playstation games with me for you to check out.”

Andy glanced at Mom and waited to see if she would give them the go-ahead. “C’mon, Mom, we’ve only got until tomorrow... don’t make us do dishes and clean-up stuff.”

Maria groaned. “Fine, you’ll get away with it this one time.”

“Yeah!” The boys high-fived each other. “Hey, Thanks for today, Michael,” Andy said as he turned to the counselor. “I’m glad you guys did this... and that I decided to come.”

Michael nodded. “I’ll be waitin’ on a party for my birthday then,” he said with a wink.

Andy snorted. “Okay then.” He gave his mom a hug and hurried to join Scrappy at the gate. “We’ll see ya later, Mom!”

“Yeah, don’t be so loud at home. There’s no need to disturb your grandparents,” she warned, knowing how the boys were when they started to play video games.

“Mom,” he complained.

“Andy!”

Michael smiled at their banter and went inside to place the dishes on the counter next to the sink.

“Kids,” Maria said when she finally joined him. “Sometimes they can be so annoying.”

“Yeah, but ya gotta love ‘em.”

She smiled. “Of course.”

“I’d like to have a few of ‘em myself.”

“A few?” she asked, surprised.

He grinned. “Two or three?”

“Good grief, have you really thought about that?”

“You tellin’ me you never gave it any thought before you had Andy?”

She looked at him before grabbing a dishtowel from the counter. “I always thought I’d have two kids one day.”

“So...” he leaned back against the counter. “You still want another one?”

“I wanted two,” she shrugged. “Kinda got pushed into the background with the current situation.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”

Should she tell him that she and Andrew had tried to have a second baby but that it just hadn’t worked out? she wondered. But what would it change if she told him anyway?

He chewed on his bottom lip as he wondered if it was the right time to tell her about Chris. Maybe it would be too much right now. And how exactly to get into that story?

“So, would ya like to have a boy or a girl?” she asked when the silence started to feel awkward.

“One of each would be great, but since that’s really not up to me, I’d be happy with either one.”

“Come on, you have no preference?” she asked teasingly.

“Seriously, one of each is my preference.”

“Well, okay.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “You don’t believe me?”

“Hmm, no, not really, but I’ll pretend I do.”

He laughed at her honesty and crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, tell me what you think I want.”

“Oh, no, buddy, you’re not turnin’ this around on me.”

“No?” He straightened up and moved to face her where she was leaning back against the sink. His eyes traveled over her face as he braced his hands on the counter on either side of her.

She held her breath when he moved so close. Her blood rushed through her veins so fast she could hear it in her ears. “No.”

“I really think you should tell me, M’ria,” he murmured.

“And I think you’re getting us into a really dangerous situation here...”

He leaned in even closer and his lips brushed against her ear when he whispered, “I think you’d like dangerous if you’d give it a chance.”

Hell, the only thing that held her back right now was the fact that she hadn’t talked about it to Andy. “I think you’re right, but you know what’s stopping me,” she told him quietly.

Michael groaned and dropped his forehead to rest against her shoulder. “Ya know, I think he needs to be told soon or we’re gonna be well on our way to retirement before we finally get around to our first kiss,” he teased.

“Impatient much, huh?”

Oh, she wanted to play it like that, did she? He lifted his head and moved so that their lips were barely a breath apart. “Am I the only one?” he growled.

Gosh, he was really getting the best of her. She took one of his hands and brought it up to rest against her neck, right above the spot where he could feel her heartbeat. “Don’t think so.”

The feel of her skin beneath his hand, her pulse racing like crazy in response to him was enough to make his own heart pound even faster. “God, you’re killin’ me, baby.”

She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she knew it would only make things more complicated. What was she supposed to do now?

Michael could see the conflict in her eyes, desire warring with the need to handle the situation the way she felt was right. He took a step back and slowly let his hand fall away from her neck. “We’d probably better cool it before we take a step that’d complicate things even more.” He took a deep breath and forced a smile. “I’ll go collect the rest of the dishes and be right back.”

“Yeah, I think I’m gonna stick my head into the refrigerator,” she said a little breathlessly.

He smirked. “Yeah, don’t think that’d help me right now.”

*****

“Here.” Tess handed her boyfriend a beer and plopped down next to him on the couch in their apartment after getting home from the party. Their apartment, she thought. Was it really their apartment? Or hers?

“Thanks,” he mumbled while he watched the sports news.

“Sooo…” she said.

“Shh…” he interrupted her when the segment focused on his favorite team.

Tess rolled her eyes at him. Just a few weeks ago she had been more important than the game itself and now she was being shushed for news regarding his favorite team? Really? Or maybe that should be already. She leaned forward and snatched a magazine off of the coffee table and frowned at it. Sports Illustrated. That wasn’t hers… she looked around. Where were her magazines anyway? “Kyle…”

“Hmm?” he asked, only half-listening.

“Where’re my magazines?” She leaned forward again, shuffling through the stack there. “This’s all football…” she flipped a couple more back and wrinkled her nose, “Guns and Ammo, really?” She glanced at the last one and rolled her eyes. A car magazine, of course. “What, no swimsuit issue?” It would be a shame for the collection to be incomplete, she thought sarcastically.

“Maybe they’re over there?” He pointed to a stack of newspapers on the floor near the window.

“That’s ridiculous, why would my magazines be on the floor?” They were on the coffee table the night before, she was sure of it. There had been no collection of male-oriented magazines there. She looked at the coffee table in front of her, tipping her head to one side as she studied it. “What happened to the plant that was on the table?”

“Plant?” he asked with a sigh.

She narrowed her eyes at him when he heaved a put-upon sigh, like talking to her was an inconvenience because the almighty sports news was on. “Yes, there was a plant on the table. One of those lucky bamboo things.”

He frowned. He couldn’t remember what she was going on about. “Ya sure?”

“Am I…” she trailed off as she stared at him. He sounded sincere, but she knew she hadn’t moved the stupid thing and she hadn’t imagined it. “Kyle, my magazines and that plant were on the coffee table last night.” She was sure of it. She was.

He tugged her closer. “Forget the plant, babe.”

Tess settled against his side, tugging on her lip thoughtfully when he went right back to watching the news. The plant and the magazines were there… weren’t they? Maybe she didn’t put them where she thought she did. She shook her head. Great, now he had her questioning her sanity over this.

Kyle caressed her upper arm absentmindedly while he watched the news. He held the beer out for her to see if she wanted a sip.

Now he was trying to appease her so he could watch the news in peace. She started to brush his hand away and then decided she wanted a drink so she took the bottle from him and then brushed his hand away. Her finger tapped against the neck of the bottle as she stared at the television without really seeing it.

“Ohhhh,” Kyle groaned, watching one of his favorite players take a hard hit before being plowed to the ground. They showed it in slow motion a few times from different angles. “Damn.”

Tess took a drink and glanced at the time. He’d only been watching the news for a few minutes… how much longer could it have? She never paid much attention to the sports news, she usually just flipped the channel when it came on because, really, who cared? Well, maybe she had left it on back in California, but that was only because the anchor that covered the sports segment was hot. But even then she hadn’t cared about what he was saying.

“Babe, did you see that?” Kyle asked and pointed to the television. “Unbelievable.”

“Um-hmm, unbelievable,” she responded because it was expected. She mentally snorted at that. Yeah, like she was paying any attention to what he was watching.

It took another few minutes before the news was over and when it ended he turned to look at her. “So, whatcha wanna do?”

She kept her face turned to the television as she rolled her eyes. “There’s a segment on new fashion trends comin’ up,” she said, pointing to the screen.

“Uh-huh.”

“What?”

“I’m gonna go shower while you watch your fashion stuff,” he decided. “Maybe we can watch a movie then?” He pointed to the stack on the shelf next to the television.

“Um… I just sat through the sports news with you.”

He lifted his eyebrows. “And?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.” She waved him off. “Go take your shower.”

“You can always join me, ya know.”

“No, go on.” She nudged his magazines out of the way and propped her feet on the coffee table.

“Did I do somethin’?” he asked, confused. He hadn’t, had he?

“No.” She bit her lip. He was usually the one pursuing the heavy relationship questions. She wasn’t used to being the one to bring these things up.

“Fine,” he sighed and headed for the bathroom.

“No.” She made a face. “Wait, Kyle.”

“Uh-huh, he knew it was something. He turned slowly to look at her.

Now she had his attention and she had no idea what to say to him. “I was just wondering where we’re goin’… ya know, as a couple.”

“Where we’re goin’? Like where we’ll live or…?”

And this was why he should be the one to bring these things up. “No, you know… we’re together now, but you’re eventually gonna have to go back to work.”

He walked back to the couch and sat down next to her. “I’m gonna do my best to figure out a way to avoid leavin’ you alone too much.” He shrugged. “You wanna stay here in Roswell?”

“I’d like to, yeah. I’m finally getting to a place where I’m close to my family and I don’t want to keep movin’ around.”

“I’ll be talkin’ to my boss about that. I hear the Albuquerque office isn’t bad to work out of.”

“Is that somethin’ you’d wanna do?”

“I was already considerin’ a transfer to New Mexico before we got together, Tess,” he said softly. “And I know this won’t work with me bein’ anywhere but here.”

“But would you be happy with that? I mean, you’ve already got a life in Atlanta.”

“Not a life that would be worth continuin’ if it meant us goin’ our separate ways again,” he admitted.

His answer made her smile. “Good answer.”

“You’re not getting rid of me anytime soon,” he said with a grin as he pulled her closer. “We’ll find a way, babe. I know you’re plannin’ to open up the shop with my sister and I think it’s time for me to come back home for good now.”

She nodded. “I didn’t really intend to let you go anytime soon anyway.”

keepsmiling7: Look for Max and Liz to talk… that will happen.

That’s exactly what she’s doing. She doesn’t want to lose what she has and in combination with seeing some parallels between her husband and his brother it’s caused her to push perhaps a little bit more than she might otherwise.

They definitely need some space and the time to take a step back and figure out what they’re doing. Perhaps Uncle Kyle and Aunt Tess taking the kids for the day will give them the opportunity to do that.

Thanks!

Earth2Mama: They will talk. All but given up hope? No, no, no! You’ve gotta have hope… really!

Explosive will likely be the word for it, lol.

Yup, totally.

Will wonders never cease? LOL.

Thanks!

begonia9508: Some women would, lol… not Maria though.

That talk was very good for them. At the very least it was a starting point. They’ll deal with it more on Sunday while the kids are out of the house.

Yeah, and Kyle still hasn’t told us what he did with that plant.

mary mary: Lol, and in that order… Scrappy’s very observant for his age, Michael knows that patience is important here, Isabel is finally making some progress with Sam, and no, she doesn’t care why, Max and Liz are taking a step in the right direction, and Kyle… well, we’re pretty sure Tess can handle him.

Natalie36: Thanks for reading!

Alien_Friend: Yes, they are, lol.

We might just find out what he would do.

Oh, it’s taking some amazing willpower on Maria’s part, lol. If it weren’t for Andy she would’ve definitely kissed Michael already.

Look for that talk to happen soon.

sarammlover: A step in the right direction for sure… we’ll see more of that from them the next day. We know… the Candy hookup’s taking forever to happen. We agree, everyone’s ready… but there’s this one little hurdle that they’ve still gotta get past. A hurdle in the form of Maria’s 16-year-old son. Kyle has always intended to do whatever is necessary to make sure he and Tess make it work this time… as for the move to Roswell, he’s got something in the works.

killjoy: There you are!

It’s quite possible, but thankfully, we’ll avoid an explosion.

Lol, well, right now a lot hinges on Andy.

Tess might just be willing to make a trade at the moment… she’s not too sure about this playing second fiddle to sports of any kind.



Part 64

Maria looked up when she heard a knock on her bedroom door and she called out for the person to enter. She smiled at her son when he pushed the door open and stepped inside. “Where’s Scrappy?” she asked, looking up from an email she was answering.

“Grandma’s makin’ us a snack an’ he’s helpin’ her.”

“And you’re not giving them a hand?”

He sat down on the edge of her bed and stared at his hands for a few moments. “It was really cool of you to bring Scrappy out here, Mom. It made today a lot easier to get through.” He shrugged. “I had a good time today. I didn’t think I would but I’m glad I went now.”

She smiled, happy to hear that he had enjoyed his birthday. “Just because we moved doesn’t mean you won’t see your friends anymore.”

“Friend, Mom,” he corrected quietly. “Scrap’s the only one who stuck around.” He shook his head when it looked like she was going to say something. “I don’t wanna talk about it. It’s just that it meant a lot to have him here today.”

“I’m glad you had fun, honey.”

He nodded. “You looked like you were havin’ a good time too.”

“It was a nice day,” she said, thinking about the time she’d spent with everyone. With Michael. “You talked to your uncle Max today.”

“Yeah, well, Scrap wouldn’t leave me alone until I talked to him. Said he didn’t fly across the country just to watch me mope around.” He shrugged and turned to look at a picture of him and Theo that sat on her nightstand. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, Andy.”

He surprised her by getting up and leaning over her to hug her tightly. “G’night, Mom.”

“Night, sweetie. You boys have a good time but keep it down.” She smiled to herself after he left to go check on the snacks. She had wanted so badly for him to have a nice birthday and so thankful that she had been able to convince Scrappy’s parents to allow him to make the weekend trip. His last birthday had been a disaster but she had seen him smile more today than she had in a long time. His best friend’s presence had made him genuinely happy and that was more important to her than anything else.

*****

Jim pulled two sleeping bags down from the rafters in the garage and tossed them to the boys standing on the floor next to the ladder he was perched on. The bedroom Andy had been using since he and Maria had arrived wasn’t very large so the boys had decided to sleep on the floor in the den. They had been in there most of the evening anyway, playing video games and chowing down on the snacks Amy had made for them. He suspected it had less to do with the size of the bedroom and more to do with the fact that the boys could talk without worrying about being overheard when they started really catching up.

“Thanks, Grandpa,” Andy said as his grandfather finally dropped to the ground again.

Jim nodded. “You boys have everything you need now?”

“I think we’re good, Pops,” Scrappy said.

“Alright, you fellas have fun an’ try to keep it down.”

When the boys were finally settled down in the den with just the television on for light Scrappy folded his arms behind his head and turned to look at his friend. They had talked about just about everything today, argued about a couple of things, teased each other mercilessly, and insulted each other as they battled it out on the playstation.

“What’s on your mind, Scrap?” Andy asked as he glanced at him.

“You’ve got a pretty good relationship with your counselor, huh?”

“Michael? Yeah, he’s cool. He’s not my counselor anymore though.”

“Your mom likes him.”

“What?” Andy asked incredulously. He paused for a second and then started laughing. “Are you kiddin’? Dude, you’re way off base with that.”

“He likes her too.”

“Everybody likes Mom.”

“I’m not talkin’ about like a friend.” He was quiet, letting the words filter into Andy’s stubborn brain. “She’s gonna have to move on at some point.”

He shook his head and watched the movie for a few minutes, trying to ignore his friend’s words. “Mom doesn’t want some other guy,” he denied. “She loves my dad.”

“Your dad’s gone, man,” he said gently.

“Shut up, Scrap,” he warned.

“We’ve talked about this before – “

“Yeah, I know,” Andy interrupted. “Just because your cousin’s wife died an’ he got remarried you think you’re some kinda fuckin’ expert on the subject.”

“All I’m sayin’ is you like this guy an’ so does she… maybe he’d make ‘er happy.”

“Whatever.”

“He makes her laugh, ya know. When’s the last time you really saw ‘er laugh? Have you even thought about her bein’ alone when you go to college?”

“I’m not talkin’ about his with you anymore, Scrap. You’re over the line – “

“Fuck the line, Evans. We’re best friends. We don’t have lines like that. Lines where a girl’s concerned, okay, but lines when one of us is wrong an’ just usin’ boundaries as an excuse to not deal with the situation… huh-uh.”

Andy fell silent and rolled over to face the opposite direction. “It’s not an excuse, Scrap,” he said nearly ten minutes later.

Scrappy shook his head and reached up to push his glasses back before remembering that he had taken them off when he had laid down. “You’re gonna have to face it sooner or later,” he said quietly.

“Then I choose later.”

“Alright.” He shifted around to get comfortable. “So, tell me about Sam…”

*****

Alex sat down on his bed and sighed tiredly, but happily. I can still feel her soft lips on mine, it’s just incredible, he thought and brushed his fingers over his mouth. When was the last time I’ve been kissed before I met her? Damn, I don’t even know anymore.

Sam and Isabel had gotten along pretty good tonight. And they soooo agreed about the movie to watch. He snorted and laid down, his fingers wandering over the nightstand to switch off the little light there. Maybe she’s taking things better then expected. It has to be hard for her to accept that her dad is dating a new woman… And the principal of all people!

But it felt right. Nothing had felt so right in a very long time now.

*****

Max stared at the drawing he had accidentally knocked over when he put one of Kara’s toys away. Her room was cast in shadow and he moved over to the window to see what he held in his hands. His heart that already felt like it was in pieces and barely being held together broke a little bit more when he saw the crayon drawing.

Was this what he had done to his family? His fingers traced over the stick figure farthest from the little family depicted in the scene and he inhaled deeply as he stared out into the night. Liz wanted him to talk to her, tell her what he was dealing with but he couldn’t, not yet. Maybe things would ease up and get better if she stopped pushing the way she had said she would. They had to do something to get back on the right track. The kids were beginning to drift away, gravitating towards others in an effort to feel safe and secure.

He put the picture away and crouched down beside Kara’s bed. “Tomorrow,” he promised with a whisper. “Daddy an’ Mama will make this better.”

*****

Maria turned off the light in her room and wandered around to her bed, using the soft light of the moon to guide her. {i] Andy’s happy. I haven’t seen him smile like today for a very long time now. It felt so good[/i], she thought as she laid down, pulling the soft blankets over her. She sighed as the comfortable warmth surrounded her. How is it possible that Mom’s blankets are so much softer then mine used to be? She couldn’t imagine anything that had ever felt so soft on her skin, well besides Michael’s hands on me. The thought of him sent different feelings through her body.

On the one hand there was excitement and butterflies in her stomach. Suddenly there was a man that could do that to her again and it felt so right. On the other hand she was worried what Andy would say about it. She feared the moment she had to tell him and she knew it had to be soon.

*****

Liz lay in the darkness of her bedroom, staring sightlessly at the ceiling as she thought back over the day. She reached up to brush the tears away as she remembered the way the kids had avoided her and Max as much as possible. Kyle was right. I’ve been pushing too hard. Max had never wanted to take the trips but her insistence that he deal with things had probably made them a little easier to handle. She had been so worried about him creating distance between them that she had overlooked the fact that she was doing the same thing.

Tess and Kyle will have the kids tomorrow. We’ll have a few hours to talk and get things out in the open. She sighed and rolled over, tugging the blankets up over her. We have a chance to really talk to each other with no distractions. We’d better make the most of it.

I hope spending a day at the rodeo doesn’t encourage Justin’s interest in the sport, she thought as she closed her eyes. Football was bad enough, but rodeo?

*****

Kyle stared at himself in the mirror, arms resting on the edge of the sink. This had definitely been one of his best birthdays ever. Weird, he thought, with all the circumstances here lately. He turned his gaze to the sink and turned the water on, using both of his hands to catch it up and then bend down to splash the cold liquid into his face.

How will the FBI react to his wish to be transferred to New Mexico? he wondered. Well, I’ll find out soon. There is no way I’ll leave her hanging again. Tess was the woman he had always been looking for in his life. He had hoped to find someone like her again after he had fucked things up in high school, but there wasn’t any woman in the world that could hold a candle to her. One more reason to do everything necessary to come back home. Tess Evans needed to stay with him.

*****

Michael sat on the back steps, staring up at the stars dotting the clear sky. He should be sleeping but he was too wired to bother lying down because it would only be a waste of time. Is Maria sleeping right now? he wondered. Or is she wide awake, thinking about me? It was selfish on his part, but he really hoped thoughts of him were keeping her awake.

What would happen if she talked to Andy and the boy couldn’t handle her dating again? She was a good mother, she wouldn’t want to do anything to hurt her son if she could help it. The boy wanted her to be happy, but if he saw her happiness as a betrayal of his father would she be able to move forward? He stretched his legs out when Mojo lay down on the step below him and wiggled to stretch out under his thighs.

He rubbed the dog’s side as he sighed heavily. “You like ‘er too, don’t you, Mojo?” He nodded and scratched the dog’s ears when he lifted his head to rest his muzzle on his thigh. “Whatcha think? Is Andy gonna be okay with this?” He shook his head when Mojo just stared at him. How am I gonna handle it if he’s not okay with it? I just found Maria, I don’t wanna lose her over this. He rubbed his hand over his face. No, I’m not gonna think the worst. He’s made a lot of progress and even if he’s resistant to the idea at first, he’ll come around. He refused to believe anything else. He had waited a lifetime for Maria to come into his life and he had no intention of letting her – or Andy – get away. It’ll take some time, but we’ll make this work.

*****

Sam turned over for what felt like the hundredth time now. Sleep wasn’t coming easy tonight, she thought, but smiled. The kiss between her and Andy was still the only thing she could think about. What had the movie been about earlier? she wondered.

Was this kiss a one-time thing only or was there more behind it? She only knew what she wanted. Had he kissed a girl before? It definitely had felt like he was experienced. He knew how to use his lips.

Again, she took her cell from the nightstand and pressed a button to light up the screen. Of course there was nothing on it, no call, no message. I wish he would just text me, but yeah, she snorted to herself, he’s probably still playing playstation with Scrappy. How can he do that after what happened between us?

*****

Tess listened to the sound of water splashing in the bathroom sink and she smiled. He was gonna talk to his boss about a transfer to New Mexico. When she had made the decision to come back home she had never dreamed that it would lead her to this point. Things with Kyle were serious, more serious than she had ever dreamed they would be with him after high school. It felt so right though.

She had completely fumbled her way through that conversation earlier but he had eased her worries in a way that was so Kyle. She still hadn’t found that plant and he still maintained that he had no idea what she was talking about. She shook her head. Either I’m losing it or he killed it and doesn’t want to tell me. She remembered bringing it home, finding the perfect place for it... She shook her head. Let it go, Tess!

His birthday had been a success and he had really enjoyed it. From the looks of things it had looked like pretty much everyone had enjoyed it. There had been a few rocky moments, but for the most part the entire day had been good. She rolled over and snuggled up with his pillow, knowing he would want it back as soon as he came to bed. He wouldn’t get it without a fight, she thought with a smile.

*****

Isabel sighed when her head hit the comfortable pillow on her couch. She couldn’t sleep right now, too many thoughts were still running through her head so she had decided to open up a bottle of wine and settle down in the living room for a while. I am the happiest woman in the world, she thought with a goofy smile on her face. How did I not see what was right in front of me? Alex has been in Roswell, I have been in Roswell and yet we’d never even noticed each other before.

The party had been quite a success in her opinion. Everyone had enjoyed themselves more or less and the world seemed to be right. Kyle is finally growing up and considering a serious relationship. And Michael had suddenly found someone who seemed to be right for him. He had never had a lack of female interest in him, but there had never been a woman who had really set him on fire. Hopefully Maria will be able to be this special one for him, he deserves it.

Alex… she redirected her thoughts again and grinned into the semi dark room, can my life get any better?

*****

Justin lay on his stomach, arms folded under his pillow as he stared out the window on his side of the room. His thoughts were on that walk home and the way Mom and Dad had seemed so much closer to normal than they had lately. Were things gonna be better now? He bit his lip and sighed quietly. He wanted to believe after watching them together that things were gonna change. No, he decided, things were gonna change. Aunt Tess and Uncle Kyle were right. Mom and Dad were just having a hard time getting through this, that’s all.

Nick wasn’t as convinced, but he’s wrong. Our parents aren’t gonna get a divorce. Mom and Dad wouldn’t be able to live without each other. It would just be wrong for them to not be together. He shoved those thoughts aside. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. He shifted onto his side and smiled as he wondered if Jack could get him in close to the chutes the next day. That’s where the real action is. He closed his eyes and nodded to himself. Yep, tomorrow will be cool and while we’re havin’ fun, Mom and Dad will be fixin’ things.

*****

Nick heard his brother shifting in his bed. Seems like I’m not the only one having problems getting to sleep tonight. He held his breath when Dad walked along the hallway to the master bedroom. There was no yelling, just soft talking between his parents. Good, he thought, at least they are sharing the same room tonight.

Things have to be alright again, what would our lives be like if it was either stay with Mom or Dad? No! That was unacceptable in his thoughts and it wouldn’t happen. They were maybe having a hard time right now, but a divorce is no option for them.

He took in a deep breath to shake those thoughts. Try to think of something good! Hmm… wonder if Sarah will be at the rodeo tomorrow…?

*****

Andy watched the action on the screen, barely paying any attention to it. Scrappy had fallen asleep a while ago but what he had said was stuck in his head, playing over and over. “Your mom likes him. He likes her too.” Was it true? What if it was? He knew Mom deserved to be happy and he knew things between his parents hadn’t exactly been perfect before Dad’s accident, but they had still been together, trying to make it work.

People moved on after losing a loved one. He knew that. It was just a part of life. She hadn’t died, she deserved to go on and find someone to be happy with. Someone who isn’t Dad. It wasn’t that he wanted her to be miserable or anything because he didn’t, but she wouldn’t be ready to move on already. It’s too soon. He swallowed hard and blinked rapidly when his vision suddenly became blurry. Think about somethin’ else, Evans.

Sam. He had finally gotten up the nerve to kiss her tonight. He grinned stupidly. It had been worth the wait though. Does she know that I really like her? She wasn’t the first girl he had ever kissed, but he kinda got the impression that he was the first guy she had ever kissed. She had liked it, right? Yeah, she kissed me back! He smiled as he thought about the way she had looked at him when she had left with her dad. I can’t wait to see her again!

Earth2Mama: Kara was sound asleep but she’ll be one of the first to be awake this morning. She is a sweet kid.

Eva: It was definitely a moment for reflection and it’s nice to get in the character’s heads once in a while.

We’ll find out soon if Scrappy’s insight was a help. Keep those fingers crossed.

Natalie36: Thanks for reading!

begonia9508: Yep, it’s a little time to catch up on the day and think about things.

Scrappy’s definitely the best kinda friend Andy could ask for!

Cardinal: Sometimes we all need that reset.

mary mary: And we’re baaaaaaaaaack!

Alien_Friend: Scrappy’s an awesome friend and he does bring out the best in Andy. It’s too bad Scrappy can’t hang around longer but he’s gonna have to be getting back home soon. You’re so right! If Andy had found out later that Scrappy knew and didn’t tell him… that would’ve been very bad.

Andy’s definitely a guy, lol.

Isabel and Alex… making nice progress.

Lots to reflect on. True, they will figure it out… in time.

keepsmiling7: Lol, well, you know… sometimes it disappears and we never know where it goes. Seeing Kara’s picture did smack him in the face… we’ll see a bit of him and Liz today.

The two of them do love each other… they’ve just hit a rough patch and they’re just not handling it as well as they could if they would just really talk to each other.

killjoy: You just never know. He could surprise you… or not.

True, it is fanfiction and sometimes we do like to take the easy route… lol, however… Kyle laid the groundwork for this a while back. During a talk that he and Max had at a football game Max asked him about pursuing a relationship with Tess when his job was across the country. Kyle’s had something up his sleeve for a while now… stay tuned.

XAF RU208: Welcome to our little world and thanks for reading!



Part 65

Kara stepped into the kitchen on Sunday morning, rubbing her eyes sleepily. She paused when she saw Daddy standing at the stove making breakfast and after a moment she walked over to him and stretched up to wrap her arms around his waist. “G’mornin’, Daddy,” she said quietly.

“Mornin’, baby girl,” Max said as he moved the pan back and crouched down in front of her. “How’d you sleep?”

She shrugged her shoulders and stared down at her hands.

“Kara,” he took her hands in his and lifted them to nudge her chin up. “Hey, look at me. Would you tell me why you’re sad?”

“You an’ Mommy’s mad a lot now.”

He bit his bottom lip and nodded. He knew the answer but he needed to hear it from her. “Daddy an’ Mommy haven’t been behaving very well, have we?”

“No, ‘cause you’re mad an’ you say mean things sometimes.”

“An’ that’s not right, is it?

“Uh-uh.” She reached up to rub her eyes with her fist. “An’ you go ‘way too much.”

The trips again. He reached out and motioned to the table. “Here, why don’t you go on over to the table and sit down?” He put the pan back on the burner and let the oil heat up before pouring the pancake batter in.

“Want me to do the plates?”

“Sure, that’d be nice.” He pulled a stack of plates down and set them on the counter before handing her two of them.

She was digging through the silverware drawer a few minutes later, humming happily to herself while he slid the cooked pancakes onto a platter and poured more batter.

“Kara?”

She paused to look at him, one hand clutching forks to her chest, the other reaching into the drawer, while standing on her tiptoes. “Yes, Daddy?”

“What would make you happy?”

“Pancakes,” Nick answered as he and Justin hurried in and settled at the table.

“And sausage,” Justin added.

“Oooh, and hash browns.” Nick grabbed glasses out of the cabinet while his brother went to the refrigerator to pull out orange juice and milk.

“I think we’ve got it established that food will make the two of you happy,” Max said dryly. He waited until Kara had handed the silverware over to Nick and he crouched down in front of her when she grabbed his hand and tugged on it.

“I wanna be a fam’ly ‘gain, Daddy,” she whispered in his ear. “A happy fam’ly like we used to be.”

Max had thought his heart couldn’t possibly break any more but her words brought tears to his eyes and he blinked to keep them from falling as he stood with her in his arms.

*****

“Can we go over to the new house?” Andy asked as soon as he had swallowed the last bite of his breakfast. “I wanna show Scrappy my room before he’s gotta leave again.”

“Sure,” Maria nodded.

“We can even paint a little bite more on the second floor.”

“Take some old clothes with you then. I don’t wanna spend another afternoon trying to get the paint out of your jeans,” she told him warningly, remembering the time she had spent doing just that.

“Will do, Mom,” he said as both boys got up from the table to hurry upstairs again.

“Oh, and please be back by 3pm at the latest. We need to leave for the airport no later than three,” she yelled after them.

Amy chuckled. “This visit with his friend’s really made him happy.”

“Yeah,” Maria smiled, “I’ll try to get them together more than once a year.”

“You can leave them where they are,” Amy said softly when Maria was about to carry the empty plates to the sink. “Jim and I will do that today. Just go do whatever ya wanna do.”

“Well, okay. Thanks, Mom. I guess I need to take Theo out for a while. Poor dog’s been a little bit neglected the last few days.” She wiped her hands on a towel and reached out for the leash hanging next to the back door.

*****

Michael walked along the path in the park with Mojo beside him. The dog pressed his nose to the ground and followed the scent of something interesting, meandering down to the edge of the pond. The dog suddenly jerked back and ran to his owner’s side, hiding behind Michael’s legs. He laughed when a large duck appeared, spreading its wings and flapping them as it quacked angrily.

He leaned over to pat the dog’s side as he nudged him to keep moving. “C’mon, Mojo, you’re perfectly safe,” he assured him as they continued walking.

They had only taken a few steps when quiet laughter caught his attention and he couldn’t stop the smile that crossed his features when he recognized it. He turned to look at Maria and shrugged. “Hey, ducks are pretty scary,” he said in his pet’s defense.

“Oh, yeah, scccaaaary,” she said with a shaking voice.

Mojo ducked his head and stared at the noisy creature before turning his head to look at Theo when the other dog edged closer to him. The two dogs studied each other for several minutes before the German Shepherd barked playfully.

“Uh-oh, be nice, Theo. Mojo is a little.... sensitive.”

Michael chuckled when his dog lowered his head, pressing it against his leg. “Well, he’s not runnin’ for home,” he said with a shrug.

Maria crouched down to bring herself to eye level with him. “Hey, Mojo,” she said softly, “I thought we were friends now.”

He snuffled softly and turned his head to look at her.

She reached out slowly to scratch his head. “You like that, huh?”

He made a quiet groaning sound and turned his head into her fingers.

Theo barked a few times in irritation, wanting to be acknowledged as well.

Michael snapped his fingers to get the dog’s attention and patted his chest. Theo jumped up, big paws resting just below his shoulders as the man rubbed his ears. “You’re like any other guy, aren’t ya? Give us a little bit of attention and we’re happy.”

“So your dog likes me, my dog likes you, now we just have to work on them liking each other.”

“Mojo didn’t cower or move to my other side, that’s a good sign,” he assured her.

Maria got up again and stretched. “So, good morning, Michael,” she teased.

“So, good mornin’, Maria,” he said with a softly mocking smile.

“Were ya able to clean the mess in your house after we left yesterday?”

“Oh, got the worst of it knocked out.”

“Good,” she said and glanced out over the large pond at the center of the park. “It took forever to calm the boys last night. They were playing playstation for hours.”

He smiled and nodded as Theo finally dropped back to the ground. “I can imagine. He had a really good time yesterday.”

“Oh, yeah, I just hope he won’t give me hell when we need to get Scrappy back to the airport.”

“Nah, I think he’ll understand.” He motioned to a bench nearby. “Wanna sit down? Or we could walk?”

“Let’s walk.”

He nodded and signaled for Mojo to continue with their walk. “So...” he glanced around before slipping his fingers through hers and locking their hands together.

She stopped and looked at their intertwined hands. “Not sure that’s a good idea, Michael,” Maria said quietly. Her heart was already beating fast just from his simple touch.

“Yeah, okay,” he said and let his hand fall away from hers. He knew she wasn’t saying it to hurt him, but her words hurt all the same.

“It’s just...” she said, feeling the need to explain. “A lot of people are here in the park in the mornings and they ALL know my mother...”

“I know.”

She winced. “Sorry.”

“Do you think it’s the right thing to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“Not wantin’ anyone to see us together in a way that might be construed as romantic... do you think that’s the right thing to do?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Until Andy knows.”

“Then don’t apologize for it.”

“I just don’t want you to think I’d think twice if the situation was different.”

He nodded. “It’s just hard... havin’ all these feelings for you an’ not bein’ able to act on ‘em.”

“I’m gonna talk to him tonight.”

His heart started to pound at her statement. He wanted her to be free to accept his affections and his advances but he knew it was going to be a difficult conversation with her son. “You’re ready?”

“I want it to be over, Michael, and I can’t lie to Andy.”

“No, of course not.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Maria, I know this’s difficult.”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “It is.”

“I don’t wanna add any pressure to the situation.” He swallowed hard, hoping he hadn’t.

“I doubt that’s possible,” she said and forced a smile.

“But you’re sure about this... about us?”

“As sure as you can be when nothing’s happened yet,” she said.

“But sure enough to give it a shot?”

“If Andy’s okay with it...”

“What if he doesn’t take it well, Maria? We both know that’s a very real possibility.”

“I don’t know, Michael. I really don’t know.”

He nodded. “Is it too soon to ask you to dinner at my place? Provided, of course, that Andy takes the news better than expected.”

She smiled. “When?”

He bit the inside of his cheek. “Tomorrow evening?”

“I think we can do that.”

He smiled widely. “How’s 6pm sound?” he asked, not wanting to give her a chance to back out.

“Sounds good.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“Wow,” she said when they finally started walking. “This’s gonna be my first date in a long time.”

“Mine too,” he said with a smile.

*****

Max watched Liz as she placed the dishes in the dishwasher and he leaned forward over his coffee cup for a moment before he stood and left the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later and placed Kara’s picture on the table, straightening it when he bumped it as he reached for his mug. He got a fresh cup of coffee and sat back down, his gaze locked on the picture while he waited for her to finish.

Liz started the dishwasher and was drying her hands on a towel when she turned and realized what he was staring at. She had been trying to come up with the words she wanted to say to him but it looked like he had something on his mind already.

“I don’t want this to be us,” he said quietly.

She nodded in agreement. “Neither do I.”

“I knew you didn’t like the trips but I didn’t know you felt like they were a threat to our marriage.” He shook his head, silencing her before she could say anything. “You’ve never been insecure. We all have moments where we’re unsure of ourselves, but when it comes to us you’ve never faltered. I’m sorry, Liz. The only reason I can come up with for you feelin’ that way is because I’ve pushed you away.”

“I never should’ve pushed you the way I did.”

Max glanced up at her when she sat down across from him. “We’ve both screwed up here, darlin’. I’m not tryin’ to shovel all the blame on you. God knows I share the responsibility for the mess we’re in. You want me to be able to talk to you about that day and I can’t. I’m not even at a place where I can think about it without physically reacting to it. I’m dealin’ with it as well as I can for right now… it’s not consuming my thoughts the way it was just a couple months ago, but when you get on my case and start pushin’ it just makes it worse.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized miserably.

He tapped the picture on the table between them. “Our kids deserve better than this… and so do you. Hell, Liz, there’s never been anything I couldn’t come to you with. And it’s not that I don’t want to…” He shook his head. “That’s not entirely true. Part of me never wants to talk to you about that day, but that has nothin’ to do with you and everything to do with what happened.” He swallowed hard. “With the way I feel about it.”

“Because you feel like it’s your fault.” She leaned forward and placed her hands over his.

“I know the official report ruled it an accident and my head knows that… but I’m the one who let go and I can’t get past that.”

“Max, he made you let go!” She turned his arm over and ran her fingers over the scar on the back of his wrist.

He jerked his hand away from her, rubbing the scar absentmindedly.

Liz sighed and tried to meet his diverted gaze. “I’m sorry, Max. I don’t know where the lines are.”

He shook his head as he lowered his gaze to the table. “That day,” he rasped. “If it has anything to do with that day consider it behind the lines. At least for now.” He finally lifted his eyes to look at her. “I don’t know when or even if I’m ever gonna be able to talk about it but… I need you to let it go, Liz. I’m at a place now where it’s not consuming my every waking moment. I know why you’ve been pushin’ and I think in the beginning it was about me bein’ absent where our family’s concerned and I’m okay with that. Hell, I needed that kick in the ass because I was lettin’ things slip away. I’m not goin’ anywhere, darlin’. I’ll admit there were probably a couple of trips I could’ve put off but didn’t…”

“Because I was – “

“Liz, you’re not the bad guy here,” he assured her as he took her hands in his. “I love you for lovin’ me enough to hold on when I’m pushin’ you away. I know I haven’t made life easy and you’ve kept our family together while I’ve been tryin’ to figure things out. Yeah, okay, the last couple months I could’ve done without bein’ pressured to deal with… things, but I’ll survive.”

She swallowed hard and nodded.

“So maybe we could make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“You stop pushin’ on that issue, let me deal with it however I need to and I’ll find a way to limit the trips.”

“But you’ve already said there’s no one – “

He shook his head. “I will find a way. I can’t do anything about tomorrow’s trip, but when I get back I’ll figure somethin’ out. Or if you think of somethin’ first, let me know and we can talk about it.”

Liz stared at him for several seconds before she caught herself. It wasn’t the kind of offer he had ever made before and she tried to hide her surprise at it now. “You’d be… comfortable with that?”

“You know, until recently I never thought much about it. I mean, we both talked about our jobs, how our days went, but somehow I overlooked the fact that I wasn’t talkin’ to you about work… I was just talkin’ at you. Somewhere along the way I fell into the trap my brother got caught in and that’s not somethin’ I ever wanted to do. As much as I loved him there were things I didn’t agree with, and keepin’ things so compartmentalized was one of them. When the business first got started you were there for every step of it and we used to talk about the business decisions and I’d bounce ideas off of you… I don’t know when I stopped.” He shook his head.

“Max, you and Andrew were so close and the business was something that he kept so separate from his family and his home life. I think you just naturally followed his lead over time. Hell, you’d done it your whole life and God knows he was a charismatic man. He had his faults like anyone else, but he was a good man and he was your big brother. Maybe being able to talk to him about the business and keeping me out of it was your way of removing something you felt was unnecessary or taking too much time by bringing it home. You and I, we both have careers that keep us busy, we have three kids, and an active life outside of our jobs…”

“But you never felt that it was unnecessary or takin’ too much time, did you?” he asked with a small smile.

She sighed and shook her head. “No, but the few times I brought it up you didn’t seem to feel it was much of an issue so I just let it drop.”

He leaned forward and lightly banged his head on the table. After a moment he sat up again and chuckled quietly. “And here all this time I’ve been thinkin’ our problems just recently started. God, why didn’t you smack me over the head with a fryin’ pan before now?”

She shook her head and smiled, glad that they could talk about things and still find the humor in them. It was a nice change. “So… any ideas how to start working on things between us?”

Max smiled. “I think we’ve already taken a huge step.” He turned his head to the side when Lucky mashed his nose against the screen door. “Let’s take a walk. Let’s just get out in the fresh air, take that damn dog for a walk, and talk about whatever the hell we feel like talkin’ about.”

Liz took his hand when he held it out to her and she laughed at his spontaneous decision. “Let’s go.” It was better than just a place to start. He was right, they had already taken the first step… the trick now was to keep putting one foot in front of the other and not start moving backwards again.

*****

Kara’s wide-eyed gaze moved over the crowd milling about as they made their way to the stands. She could see the arena ahead from her perch on Uncle Kyle’s shoulders and she laughed excitedly when she saw a horse and rider come out of the chute heading for the opposite end. “Untel Tyle, it’s a girl!” she shouted. “What’s her doin’?”

“That’s called barrel racin’,” he answered.

“An’ girls can do it?”

“Girls can do anything they wanna do,” Tess spoke up.

“Even ride the bulls like Jack does?”

“Believe it or not there are women how compete in the bull riding,” Shayna said with a shake of her head. “No, I don’t get it, but they do.”

The boys had deserted them as soon as they had purchased their tickets and headed for the arena. Nick had spotted Sarah Lambert, the girl he liked from school, hanging out with some friends and taken off after her. Justin had followed Jack when he had headed for the area behind the chutes where all the action was.

Kyle set Kara down as they climbed up into the stands and she stood on the seat between him and Tess when they sat down.

“Ya want something to drink?” Tess asked the little girl.

Kyle snickered. “Tryin’ to get away already?”

“No, but maybe she’s thirsty. Are you?”

“If short stuff wants somethin’ you can grab me a drink too.”

“Can I get a soda?” Kara asked.

“Well, maybe a small one,” Tess said, knowing if they dropped the kids off on a sugar high her brother and Liz wouldn’t appreciate it.

“What about you, Kyle?”

“Soda’s fine.” He tipped his head back to look at her when she stood up. “Hey, I’ll take a hot dog too... maybe without the jalapenos this time though.”

“Am I your maid or somethin’?”

He grinned wickedly. “You were this mornin’.”

“Kyle,” she hissed and held her hands over Kara’s ears.

“What?” He laughed when he saw the tinge of red creeping into her cheeks. “She has no idea what that meant.”

She ignored him and looked at the little girl. “You wanna come with me or stay with Kyle?”

Kara leaned against Uncle Kyle’s shoulder. “I stay.”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon.” Tess walked off, glad that she didn’t have to watch crazy people on bulls.

Shayna chuckled. “It’s good to see you so happy, Kyle.”

“Who’d think that she’s the reason, huh?”

“Maybe anyone who had never heard you talk about her,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Will you marry Aunt Tessie?” Kara asked, sitting on Kyle’s lap.

“Can you keep a secret?” he asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Yeah,” the girl whispered back and nodded.

“I’m gonna marry Aunt Tess one of these days, but she doesn’t know it yet.”

“When you’ll tell her?”

“Well, I’m not sure yet... it’s gotta be the right time.”

“I can ask her if you want,” she offered generously.

Shayna bit back a smile at the little girl’s offer.

“Yeah, but that’s really a question I should ask her, ya know?”

“Otay,” she agreed, shrugging her shoulders.

“Hey, look, there’s your brother,” he said, pointing at Justin when he climbed up to sit on one of the chutes next to Jack.

“Justiiiiin!” Kara suddenly screamed, waving at her brother.

Jack nudged Justin when he glanced up and caught Shayna gesturing to the little girl that was obviously yelling at her brother. It was noisy at the chutes though and there was no way the boy would hear her.

Justin grinned at his little sister and raised a hand to wave at her. “So, are ya gonna ride a bull today?”

“Don’t tell Shayna.”

The boy shook his head. “How come you don’t do this professionally?”

Jack chuckled. “It’s just a hobby. Rodeo’s not somethin’ you can do very long.”

“Yeah, I guess not. The injuries kinda make it a short career, huh?”

“Yeah, you get old pretty quickly and it’s not easy to find a woman who can accept the lifestyle.”

“Shayna seems okay with it.”

“Yeah, but only if I keep it a minimum.” He shook his head. “I love rodeo, enjoy the sport, but I know where to draw the line. Some guys… they can’t see past the next rodeo and it can put a real hurt on relationships.”

Justin nodded. “So are you guys gonna get married an’ have kids?”

“Eventually.”

He was silent for a few minutes. “Did you ever lose anyone? I mean, ya know, like someone close to you that died?”

“We’re bound to lose people in our live, Justin. My father died when I was 17.”

“Did you push everyone away? Like they just didn’t matter?” He shrugged and turned to watch the barrel racer as she blew past them and the announcer called her time. “Sorry, I know that’s a nosy question.”

Jack looked at the boy. “I had a lot of family members that cared about me, but I preferred to be alone for quite a few months. I didn’t really want to deal with them or the fact that my father wasn’t comin’ back.”

“My dad’s brother died a while back an’ now it’s like... I don’t know, he’s here, but he’s not.” He sighed. “I just wish he’d be the way he was before.”

“It takes time.”

“Yeah. I just miss my dad.” He turned his head to watch the action a couple of chutes over when the horse held there bucked, its hooves making a racket as they connected with the sides.

“Saddle bronc competition,” Jack said when he realized that the boy had said all he wanted to say on the subject of his dad.

“It looks cool.”

“Which events are you interested in?”

“Bull riding.”

Jack laughed. The kid had the bug for sure. “You ever thought about getting involved in the sport?”

“Yeah, but I think Mom would kill me.”

“Yeah, I grew up on a cattle ranch, so my mom wasn’t all that surprised when I got into it.”

Justin shrugged. “Guess I don’t wanna come up with that suggestion right now.”

He reached over and patted the boy’s shoulder. “You play football, don’t you?”

“Yeah, and even that’s too exciting for Mom sometimes.”

“Yeah, bet your dad understands your love of the game though, doesn’t he?”

“Oh, yeah, he played when he was younger.”

“Cool.” He motioned to the action in the arena. “This fella’s not gonna get a good score. See the way he’s spurrin’ the horse? Watch his feet.”

*****

Kyle looked up when Tess returned with their drinks. “Hey, they’ve already changed events.”

“Yay,” she said and handed him his drink and hot dog.

Shayna snickered at Tess’ unenthusiastic response. “Just not that into rodeo, huh?”

“No, not at all. Why, is it that obvious?” she asked, amused.

“It’s not my favorite sport either, but keep an eye out for the bull riders.”

“Good lookin’ huh?”

The redhead grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

“Can I have a bite?” Kara licked her lips at the sight of the hot dog.

“Go for it, short stuff,” Kyle said, folding the wrapper out of the way so she didn’t take a bite of it.

She giggled happily and opened her mouth as wide as she could.

His eyebrows lifted at the size of the bite she took. “Think we should’ve told Aunt Tess we needed two hot dogs.”

“Oh, I’ll take one too, thanks, Kyle,” the blonde said, smiling at her boyfriend.

He made a face at her. “You wanna go grab some munchies, Kara?”

She took the hot dog out of his hands and sat down on the empty seat next to him. “No, I’m stayin’ with Aunt Tessie.”

“Alright, you want anything?”

“Can I have this?” She held the hot dog out to him.

“Sure go ahead.” He glanced at Shayna. “What about you, Red?”

“Nothin’ for me, thanks.”

“Babe? Just a hot dog?”

“Yep. With extra onions.”

“Extra onions?” He made a face at her.

“The roasted kind!”

“She wants extra onions,” he muttered under his breath. “Alright, dragon breath, I’ll be right back.”

“Where’s Nicky?” Kara asked while she chewed on a piece of hotdog, unaware of the ketchup that was all over her face now.

Tess made a motion to the other side of the arena where he was sitting with Sarah and some of their friends. She had been careful to keep an eye on his whereabouts since he had asked if he could go hang out with them. She did not want to be the one responsible for losing one of the kids.

“Tan I go there?”

“Um…” How could she answer that one without hurting the little girl's feelings? Nick loved her but he wanted to spend some time with people his own age. “Uncle Kyle’s gonna be back in just a few minutes... wouldn’t you rather hang out here and wait for him?”

Kara thought about it for a moment. “No,” she shook her head.

No. “Are you sure? Maybe if you wait for him to get back the two of you can go down where Justin is... you can see the animals up close.”

“Tan we go to see the animas, Aunt Tessie?”

“Well... what, now?” Say no, she pleaded silently. She didn’t want to go down there.

“Yes,” Kara agreed, standing so quickly she nearly dropped the food.

Tess made a face as she looked at the large animals. Ungh, she just was not an animal person. “Well, how will Uncle Kyle know where we are if we leave before he gets back?”

“I am back,” he announced himself, handing her the hotdog. “Here, onion lady.”

“Our niece would like to go...” she waved in Justin’s direction, “down there...”

“Behind the chutes,” Shayna offered helpfully.

Kyle crouched down to tickle the little girl’s sides. “So ya wanna see the big animals, huh?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, let’s go then.”

“You two have fun,” Tess said with a relieved smile. Whew, that had been a close one!

Eva: Finally, lol.

We think you’re right about Kyle.

begonia9508: Kara… well, what can we say? That little girl knows how to work it. 

Natalie36: Thanks for reading!

mary mary: Andy… well, we’ll see in this next part. And Justin, lol, we’re pretty sure he’ll make it home in one piece. We know it was a wait for this part so… it’s extra long.

Earth2Mama: We’re seeing some definite progress on all fronts… now the question is will it continue for all of them?

keepsmiling7: Thanks!

That’s definitely a good thing! Not standing there and throwing the blame at each other and actually acknowledging that they’re both at fault is an important step for them.

Kara’s a sweetheart and she really is cute, lol.

We’ll be seeing more of Max and Liz and how they progress.

sarammlover: Talking can solve a lot of problems, can’t it?

Alien_Friend: And look… we’re updating again… another extra long part.

They’re all making a little progress and taking a step forward.

Listening to each other and communication… two very important things and it looks like they’re finally getting a handle on that again. We love those father/daughter moments too. We’ll see more of Max and Liz in this next part.

The talk with Andy… well, we’ll see in this next part. Thanks… more than 600 pages in, must be time for that first date, huh?

Uncle Kyle… what’s not to love about this guy, right? Oh, you know he’s got that question in the back of his mind.

We’re glad ITCOAL makes your Sundays! It’s been a great fic to write. Not always easy or light, that’s for sure, but it’s a great story and we love it. We’re glad you love it too.

killjoy: Oh, we’re pretty sure it just came out naturally, without thought.

Lol, Justin definitely agrees with you!



Part 66

Sam sat on one of the barstools on one side of the island in the kitchen, elbows propped on its surface and her chin cupped in her hands as she watched Dad making dinner. Earlier that afternoon he had called to invite Principal Russell over for dinner and he had spent most of the day making his homemade spaghetti.

Her gaze slid to the cherry chocolate cake Andy’s granddad had dropped off earlier and she wondered what her chances were of getting a slice before dinner. Dad had pulled out all the stops for this thing, she thought. Just a couple of hours ago Grandma and Grandpa had stopped by to drop off a set of Grandma’s good china and it had taken nearly an hour to get them back out the door. Her grandparents were really curious about the woman their son was dating and it had taken a promise from him that he would bring Principal Russell by for Sunday dinner soon before they had been satisfied enough to leave.

She snickered when the doorbell rang and Dad froze for a moment.

“You finished settin’ the table, right?” he asked as he checked his appearance.

“Um-hmm. Grandma brought over one of her linen tablecloths with the fancy napkin rings… I know how to set the table, Dad.” She bit her lips as she watched him straighten his shirt and take a deep breath. “I’ll go answer the door,” she said as she dropped down off of the stool and followed Oscar out of the room.

Sam pulled the front door open and popped the little lock on the screen door before nudging it open. She nodded when Principal Russell greeted her and stepped into the front hall.

“You like spaghetti, don’t you?” she asked quietly.

Isabel’s eyebrows lifted when the teenager glanced back over her shoulder before looking at her once more. “Sure, who doesn’t?”

“Okay, good. Dad’s been in the kitchen all day making his homemade spaghetti.”

“He makes homemade sauce?” Isabel asked.

“Not just the sauce…” she closed the front door. “He makes all of it from scratch. Grandma taught him how like years ago.” She looked down when Oscar squealed loudly and she smirked at the principal. “Do you like pigs?”

“I can’t say as I’ve ever met one. Well,” she corrected herself, “not of the four-legged variety anyway.”

Sam laughed before she could catch herself and she motioned at Oscar. “This’s my pet pig, Oscar. You can pet him if you want. He doesn’t bite or anything.” She tilted her head to the side as she waited to see what Principal Russell would do.

“I’ve never known anyone who owned a pig as a pet,” Isabel mused as she wondered just how personally the girl would take it if she declined the invitation.

Sam turned her head towards the kitchen when the phone rang but Dad answered it before the second ring. “People think they’re dirty animals but they’re not. They’re very clean and Oscar’s housebroken too.”

“Well, that’s advantageous, isn’t it?”

“Sam, Jenny’s on the phone for you,” Alex said as he entered the room, carrying the handset.

“C’mon, Oscar,” Sam called as she grabbed the phone and ran out of the room.

The little pig’s hooves clicked across the floor as he ran after her, snorting and squealing happily.

“You didn’t really believe she had a pet pig did you?” he asked with a grin as he followed Isabel’s gaze.

“I know you showed me a picture, but…” She shook her head as she smiled at him. “Hi, Alex.”

“Hey,” he said softly as he took her hands and leaned in for a kiss. A loud shriek followed by a shout of “No way!” had Alex shaking his head. “Ten to one they’re discussing the upcoming dance.” He nodded and led the way back to the kitchen. “It’s been the current hot topic around here.”

“Well, that first dance is a pretty big deal.”

“Yeah.” He shook his head as he checked on dinner. “Seems like it was just the other day when I was droppin’ her off at school for the first time and now she’s thinkin’ about goin’ to a dance.” He glanced up when Sam came back into the room.

“No, I’ll ask him.” Sam rolled her eyes at her friend’s question. “Whatever. You know he won’t mind. No, just hold on.” She turned the phone away, pressing it to her shoulder as she looked at her dad. “So, Jenny’s got a question but you’ve gotta promise you won’t laugh.”

“Okay,” Alex nodded. “Hit me with it.”

“How uncool is it for a girl to ask a guy to a dance? I told her it’s probably the only way she’s gonna go with Justin ‘cause he’s completely oblivious but if it’s like totally uncool that would be way worse than not goin’ so… I mean, you were his age a long time ago so you’d know.”

“Thanks, honey,” he said dryly. “Just for the record I’m not ready for retirement yet.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean, Dad.”

“Tell her to ask him. Knowin’ Justin, he’ll be relieved.”

“See?” she asked as she brought the phone back up. “Dad says go for it. What? No!” Her gaze moved to Principal Russell and she bit her bottom lip. “Alright, fine, hold on. So, I know the answer’s probably no, but have you ever asked a guy out?”

“Several times, yes,” Isabel answered, surprised by the question.

“Really?”

“Um-hmm.” She nodded in thanks when Alex placed a glass of wine on the counter next to her. “Sometimes guys are completely clueless, sometimes they’re shy, and sometimes they’re just too nervous to ask. I think if you really like the guy and you’re willing to risk rejection you should go for it.”

“You think if she asks Justin would say no?”

“It’s always a possibility. Some guys aren’t secure enough to handle being asked out and sometimes they’re just not interested.”

“Hmm… Justin’s pretty secure.” And she had a feeling he liked Jenny even if he hadn’t said anything. She bit her bottom lip. “Have you ever asked a guy out and he said no?”

Isabel smiled and took a sip of her wine. “Oh, yeah.”

“But that’s gotta be embarrassing.”

“The first time it happened it was pretty humiliating, but I survived it.”

Sam nodded after a moment. “Cool, thanks.” She left the room, already talking a mile a minute again.

*****

Maria watched Andy and Jim as they sat on the edge of the couch, shouting at the television when their team ran down the field with the football. He loved watching football, but had very little interest in playing it unless it was recreationally and he’d never shown any interest in pursuing it at school. She knew Andrew had been disappointed at their son’s lack of interest where the sport was concerned and he had never understood Andy’s love of basketball.

Andrew had played football in high school and later in college but in spite of his love for the sport he hadn’t had the makings of a professional football player. He had pushed for Andy to play football, hoping that he would eventually recognize the greatness of the sport and even though he hadn’t wanted to disappoint his dad, Andy had never tried out for the team.

The game had gone into overtime a while ago but from the shouting and the sudden burst of activity as her stepfather and her son jumped up and down, high-fiving each other she had to assume overtime was over and their team had just won. She looked down when Theo sat down beside her, giving her that look that said, ‘Hey, I wanna go out. Now.’ She scratched his head and smiled when he gave a short whine. “Alright, let’s go for a walk.”

He playfully hopped around her as she turned to go and get his leash. She snapped the lead to his collar and paused in the living room doorway to call her son.

Andy looked up when Mom called him. “What’s up, Mom?”

“Why don’t you go with me to take Theo for a walk?”

“Yeah, okay, game’s over anyway.”

“So glad you can fit me into your busy schedule,” she said with a teasing smile.

They walked through the quiet neighborhood while Theo took his time sniffing out every blade of grass along the way. Andy was texting like crazy and Maria wondered how he managed to do that so fast. She was lucky to get a single text out in less than five minutes. “Andy, there’s something we need to talk about.”

“I know.”

“You know…” she murmured. “What do you know?”

He looked at her like he was questioning her sanity. “I know that you wanna talk about somethin’. That’s usually why we go for walks, right? Grandma an’ Grandpa are at the house an’ you wanna talk without them around.” He shrugged. “So, what’s up?”

Oh, God, how’re you gonna tell your son about female needs and feelings towards a man who isn’t his father? she wondered, her heart beating up into her throat. This could go either really good or really, really bad and she wasn’t sure what she would do if the second option reared its ugly head. “Are you texting with Sam?” she asked when the boy focused on his cell again.

“Yeah, maybe. So?” Why’d she have to ask that question?

“You really like her, don’t you?”

He shrugged uncomfortably. “Yeah, she’s cool.”

Would there be more between the teenagers? she wondered. He was 16 now, a time where he definitely had to have some interest in females where more than friendship was concerned. “I like her too.”

He grunted and typed in another message, quickly hitting the send button.

“Okay,” she sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “I need to ask you something, Andy. Um... did you...” damn this was hard, “did you know your Dad and I had considered seeing a marriage counselor before the accident happened?”

He shrugged. “I knew somethin’ wasn’t right.”

“Yeah, we had some problems,” she admitted softly. “We had been together since we were teenagers and at some point I think we both wondered if it had been too early.”

“But you guys... y’know, ya loved each other.” He stared at the display on his phone, hoping for a response to his last text to come through. He didn’t want to hear that his parents had been going to break up. It was bad enough to think it, but to know it for sure... he didn’t wanna know that.

“We cared a lot about each other, no matter what. It just wasn’t like... romantic love anymore in the end.”

“What’s that even mean? Either you loved each other or you didn’t.” C’mon, Sam, he begged, talk to me.

“You can love each other in more than one way, Andy. As I said, we cared about each other, we always held together in bad times, it was just like...” God, she really didn’t want to tell him all of this, but it was part of the truth, “... we had reached a point where there really wasn’t any physical attraction anymore.”

“No physi... ungh, Mom! This conversation has the potential for mental damage.”

She almost laughed at that. “Sorry, I just want you to know the truth.”

“Maybe we could just leave it at yes, I’m a big boy and I knew you guys weren’t all... ya know... like ya used to be.” He made a face. “I just figured it was ‘cause you guys were getting old an’ you didn’t care about... ya know, anymore.”

“I am not that old,” she denied.

“Okay, whatever... so you an’ Dad weren’t doin’ it a lot.” He shrugged and made a face as he typed in a response to Sam... along with a message about Moms and weird conversations. He had a bad feeling he knew where this conversation was leading... that Scrappy had been right when they had argued the night before.

“Yeah, um,” her son’s constant texting confused her, but she knew he just did it because he was as uncomfortable as she was. “I don’t think I’m too old to find someone else to be part of my life...”

“Sure, I guess one day that’ll happen.” One day in the far away future, he thought.

“Would you be okay with that?”

“Well... someday I guess you’re gonna find someone an’ I’ll be away at college so...” he shrugged.

He was putting it off, she realized and she didn’t like it. They weren’t talking about this because of a someday... or in the future. There was a NOW. “No I mean, would you be okay with it if it happened... sooner?”

Scrappy was right. “What, like after graduation?” He was being mean and he knew it but he couldn’t believe she wanted to just hook up with someone else so soon!

“Andy, please,” she begged, “this isn’t easy for me either.”

“It’s Michael, right?”

She looked at him, irritated and surprised at the sudden question before she nodded slightly. Now it was out.

“I should’ve known he wasn’t really interested in me... sayin’ all that stuff about how he understood an’ how I’m not wrong for feelin’ the way I do... He’s just some asshole tryin’ to get laid!” That counselor in Miami was right, he realized.

“That’s not true, Andy, and you know that. He really cares about you.”

“Yeah, he cares about me,” he snarled. “Why’re you even tellin’ me this? You’re gonna do whatever you wanna do anyway.”

“I’m not,” she told him, hurt.

“Say what?” His steps slowed until he came to a stop and he stared at her.

“I’m not doing anything if it means hurting you, Andy.”

“Wait, so if I tell you I don’t want you to see him... you won’t?”

She knew he was going to tell her just that, but she bit her lip and nodded.

“Well... then I don’t want you to see him.” He ignored Scrappy’s voice in his head, easily hearing his friend calling him a selfish dick.

His words hurt and shattered her heart into pieces. She sucked in the fresh air to push the tears back. “Okay,” she said with a shaky voice before she turned to start walking again.

Andy swallowed hard as he watched her walk away. He had seen the hurt in her face and he wanted to make it go away. But, he was right, wasn’t he? He shook off the momentary doubts. He knew he was right. How could Mom even think about dating someone already? And Michael... how had he not seen what the guy was really doing?

She wanted to run right now, but she knew she couldn’t. She was a mother not a teenager anymore and Andy was the highest priority in her life.

Andy looked down when his phone buzzed, glancing over a text from Scrappy and frowning. Don’t be a dick if she tells you, man. Sometimes he really hated his best friend. He closed out the messaging feature and stared at the sidewalk as he followed Mom back to the house.

*****

Music from a light rock station filtered in from the stereo in the living room as Max and Liz worked together to get dinner ready. They had spent the day talking and they felt that they had finally made some real progress. Tess had called about an hour ago to let them know they would be heading back soon and they had dragged themselves out to make a quick run to the store.

Max glanced at Liz as he finished rinsing off the pork chops they had picked up for dinner. She was mixing flour, paprika, salt and pepper to make the coating that would give the meat a crispy golden crust. He slid the plate of pork chops on the counter beside her and washed his hands before going to check on the potatoes and vegetables for dinner.

Liz shook her head and smiled when she heard the lid on the cookie jar settling back in place. There was no point in saying anything about it. He could snack all day and still eat like a horse when dinnertime rolled around. She was just finishing up mixing the coating for the pork chops when she heard the kids trying to talk over each other and she grabbed a dishtowel to wipe her hands on as she turned to look outside.

“Oh, my Lord in heaven,” she muttered when she saw Justin bounding up the front sidewalk. Sometimes he really reminded her of an oversized exuberant puppy.

“What?” Max asked as he joined her. “Oh.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder as he shook his head at the black cowboy hat their son was wearing.

“What’d I tell you about him going to a rodeo?”

“Well… at least he didn’t come home with a horse, darlin’.”

Liz smacked his hip. “Not funny.”

“Mommy, Daddy!” Kara shouted as the three of them barreled through the front door. “Looky!” She ran across the kitchen to show off the little stuffed horse she held. “It’s like the one I rided!”

Max glanced at Tess and Kyle when they came in behind the kids and he lifted Kara up in his arms as Liz reached out to touch the toy.

“Can I have my own horsey, Daddy? I want – “

“Hey, I said I was gonna tell ‘em my news first,” Justin interrupted. “Dad, I was talkin’ to the guy in charge out at the fairgrounds an’ he said I could get a job out there next summer workin’ with the horses. He said – “

“You’re such a dork, Justin,” Nick interrupted. “My news is more important. I asked Sarah to the Harvest Dance next Saturday but it’s a formal so I kinda gotta have a tux.”

“Okay, that’s a lot of information to take in all at once,” Max said as he kissed his daughter’s cheek and put her down. “We’ll discuss that pony later, Kara.” He glanced at the twins. “Justin, you got the manager’s name and number out at the fairgrounds?” He nodded when the boy gave an affirmative answer. “Your mom and I will talk to him and then discuss the job. And Nick, congratulations on your date. We’ll make sure you’ve got a tux for the dance. The three of you go get cleaned up for dinner.” He was about to warn his sister and Kyle to make a run for it but Liz surprised him when she let the subject of the rodeo drop and remained silent for a moment.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “He really asked Sarah to the dance?”

Tess nodded and chuckled. “Yeah, and it was really classy, too. We were walking to the car after the rodeo – which, if I never go to another one will be just fine with me – and he turns to look at Sarah and – “

“Hey, Mom!” Nick shouted from upstairs.

Liz walked over to the doorway and looked up at him where he was leaning over the railing. “How many times do I have to tell you not to hang over that railing?”

“Aww, Mom,” he complained, but moved back.

“Now, what did you need that could not wait another five minutes?”

“I’ve gotta have a haircut too.”

“Nick, this may come as a shock to you but I have been to dances before. I know what you’ll need.”

“Well, yeah, okay. Can I get some cologne too? I don’t wanna wear any of Dad’s.”

“What is wrong with your dad’s cologne?”

“Well, nothin’ if I was like… old! What if it’s like the same kind Sarah’s dad wears? Do you know how embarrassing that would be?”

“Nicholas Evans, go get ready for dinner.”

“So… is that a yes?”

“That’s an ‘I will think about it’.”

He rolled his eyes and disappeared down the hall.

“Now I smell like an old man?” Max asked when she came back into the kitchen.

Liz gave him a teasing smile. “Just my old man.” She gave him a kiss and moved to the stove to start cooking the pork chops. “Okay, now, how did he ask, Tess?”

“Well, we were walking to the car and her friends were waiting for her up ahead so they kinda fell back a little bit so that Justin and Kara weren’t right there with them. Nick reaches over and takes her hand…

“So, I guess that dance thing’s next Saturday, huh?”

Sarah glanced up at him as she held her breath and nodded.

“Yeah, well… ya know, if you’re not doin’ anything maybe we could go.”

Her eyes widened. “You want us to go together?”

Nick rolled his eyes. “Duh.” He cleared his throat and hurried to correct himself when he realized he had hurt her feelings. “Sorry, I just meant that yeah, you an’ me could go to the dance together. I haven’t asked anyone else an’ I guess no one’s asked you since – “

Sarah jerked her hand out of his. “What makes you think no one’s asked me yet?” she asked indignantly.

“Well… I mean…” he stuttered out, flustered. “You said before that you didn’t know if you were goin’!”

“That’s not the same thing as not bein’ asked.”

“So someone else asked you?”

“Dave Hanover on the track team and Eric Jefferson on the football team both asked.”

“I know who Eric an’ Dave are,” he grumbled as they started walking again.

“I told both of them no,” she said softly.

“Why?”

“Because I was hoping you’d ask me to go.”

His mouth dropped open as he stared at her. “Then what’re we arguin’ about?” he asked, confused. He shook his head. “Nevermind, I don’t wanna know. So, you wanna go with me?”

“Yes,” she said simply and gave him a beautiful smile.

“Oh, my,” Liz said, laughing quietly. “I guess it could’ve been worse. He could’ve asked her out with a text message.”

“It might’ve been a little less awkward,” Tess said with a smile.

“I don’t think girls realize just how hard it is for us to ask them out,” Kyle said with a shake of his head.

“I don’t recall you having any problems in that area,” Liz said as she glanced at her husband.

“Oh, yeah, well, he’s like the exception to the rule.” Kyle snorted. “The two of you were a sure thing from the moment you met. Evans was like Mr. Romantic even back in high school.”

“That’s true.” Liz reached up to stroke his jaw, running her thumb over his goatee. “You’ve always been like that.”

Max grinned and dipped his head to kiss her. “Because you bring it out in me.”

“Ungh, you realize you made it hell for every other guy in high school, right? The girls were always goin’ on about how you did somethin’ romantic.”

Tess shook her head at him. “Lucky for Kyle I wasn’t running around lookin’ for a carbon copy of my brother.”

“Hey, c’mon, I tried to be romantic in high school.”

She laughed and hugged him. “You did. And I can honestly say I’ve never gotten a nicer case of poison ivy from any other guy.”

Kyle made a face at her. “Look, we didn’t have poison ivy growin’ in the concrete jungle of Chicago. I just figured those wildflowers could use some greenery.”

“An entire forest and he picks poison ivy.”

Max shook his head at them. “As I recall you practically stuck your whole face in that toxic bouquet so you didn’t know what it looked like either.”

“That is sooo not the point, Max,” Tess said, sticking her tongue out at him.

He chuckled and grabbed a pack of wheat rolls. “You guys wanna stay for dinner?”

Tess elbowed Kyle when he opened his mouth. His stomach was growling so loud she could feel it where she was pressed against him. “No thanks, we’ve got plans tonight.”

“You sure?” He lined the rolls up on the pan and slid it into the preheated oven, checked the broccoli, cauliflower and carrot mix, and then walked over to the doorway to holler at the kids and tell them they had five minutes till dinner.

“Think we could get a raincheck?” Kyle asked as he eyed the food Liz was putting on the table. Perfectly fried golden-brown pork chops, homemade mashed potatoes and gravy, the trio of vegetables with the homemade cheese sauce and the dinner rolls that would be coming out of the oven soon.

“Anytime,” Max said agreeably.

“Alright, we’ll see you guys later,” Tess said before Kyle could start drooling. If she didn’t know better she’d think he hadn’t eaten all day.

“Kyle.”

He turned when Liz called him and he grinned when she placed a pork chop sandwich in a paper towel and folded it over before handing it to him.

“You didn’t have to do that, Liz. He’s been eating since he got up this mornin’.”

“Hush, woman.” He shook his head at Tess and held the sandwich up. “Thanks, Liz.”

“No, thank you. Both of you. We really needed today.”

“Is dinner ready?”

“Is it time to eat?”

“I’m hungry!”

The kids pushed their way past each other to get into the kitchen, saying their goodbyes and thank you’s to their aunt and uncle before hurrying to the table and taking their seats.

Max leaned over Kara to place the bowl of rolls in the center of the table and reached out to tug on the brim of Justin’s hat.

“Oh, right.” Justin took the hat off and turned to hook it on the back of his chair. He nudged his brother when Dad held Mom’s chair out for her and she reached up to cover his hand where it rested on her shoulder for a moment before he took his own seat.

*****

Maria stopped the car in front of Tess’ apartment. She didn’t feel like spending time with anyone right now, especially not with a new and still high-flying couple, but she had promised Tess she would come over and help her look through a few catalogs of equipment to select some of the things they needed to order for the shop. She glanced into the rearview mirror, making sure her puffy eyes from crying after talking to Andy earlier were gone.

Maybe getting ready to open the shop up would be just the right thing to do, she thought. It would distract her for a while. God, how was she going to tell Michael that they couldn’t see each other? She knew it would hurt him.

Taking a deep breath of the cool evening air, she took the few steps between her car and the front door of the building. It was off the latch so she pushed it open and quickly went up the stairs to her friend’s apartment to knock.

“Kyle, Maria’s here, so get ready for God’s sake!” she heard Tess yell behind the door before she opened it and rolled her eyes. “I told him about an hour ago to shave an’ all, but no, he had to watch the damn sports news first.”

Maria smiled, wishing she had reasons to complain about stuff like that. “That’s my brother I guess.”

“Yeah, the one and only. Come in.” Tess held the door wide for Maria and waited until she stepped in. “Are you hungry yet? Dinner’s almost ready. We’re running a little late because we really had to convince Justin to come back home with us.”

“You really went to the rodeo then, huh?”

“Yeah, and I think I was the only one who didn’t like it.”

Maria snorted and shook her head. “Guess you forgot just how popular rodeo is in small towns in the Southwest,” she said with a forced laugh.

“Kyle,” Tess yelled again. “What is taking so long?”

“You’re the one who insisted I shave!” he hollered back.

“Leave him be, Tess. It’s a waste of time to rush Valenti’s.”

“Rush him? I wouldn’t be rushin’ him if he had listened to me in the first place. An hour,” she said, making sure she was loud enough for him to hear her. “I told him an hour ago.”

“We could go ahead and look at some catalogs,” Maria suggested.

“Sure, I’ve got them over on the kitchen table.” She hurried to move the catalogs to another position and then shrugged when Maria gave her a funny look. “That’s um.. Kyle’s chair,” she said, indicating the chair the magazines had been sitting in front of. “He’s kinda weird about where he sits.”

“Oh, yeah, I know. Also a Valenti thing. Jim’s the same way.”

Tess shook her head, not wanting to imagine whether or not Jim Valenti had preferred seating for the same reason.

“How did Max and Liz look when ya took the kids home? Think they used the afternoon to get things out in the open?”

“They definitely looked a little more relaxed than I’ve seen them look in a while.” Tess checked the directions on the back of a frozen dinner box and then checked the lasagna in the oven.

“Good,” Maria took a seat at the table and glanced over the catalogs Tess had organized.

“They’re both havin’ a hard time and tryin’ to find neutral ground in the middle,” Kyle said as he pulled the refrigerator door open. “How much longer on that lasagna?”

“Hi to you too, brother,” Maria said, a little amused. “Should’ve known that food’s always more important.”

He rolled his eyes. “Hey, Maria.” He grabbed a couple of beers and stretched his arm out to hand her one. “And while food is important to me, I was askin’ ‘cause we’ve still gotta put the garlic bread in the oven. Not all of us can cook like you... frozen dinners, salad, and store-bought garlic bread is about as fancy as you’re gonna get at our place.”

“I’m not really hungry anyway. Amy made a big lunch today.” Okay that wasn’t the real reason why she wasn’t hungry.

He snorted and glanced at Tess, lifting one eyebrow in question. Mom always made lunch at the same time and she never made it too big because she wanted to make sure they ate dinner on time.

The curly blonde shrugged. She had noticed right away that something was wrong. Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, but the other woman obviously didn’t want to talk about it.

“Well, just eat enough to not hurt our feelings since we went all out,” he said with a teasing grin.

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Maria said and grinned back at him, wondering where she could find the strength to smile while she was hurting so much inside.

“Right, well...” He scratched his right ear for a second before snapping his fingers. “I totally forgot the wine, babe.”

“You forgot to cool it or like in general?”

“Um... in general?” He shot a glance at his sister when she stared at the catalog sightlessly.

“Well, guess that means you’re gonna have to go and buy some. It’s not too late.”

He nodded, hoping Maria would open up while he was gone. He pulled the refrigerator door open and stuck his beer on the top shelf, shifting a few things around to hide the two bottles of wine already there. “So, um... red or white?”

“Bring one of both.”

“Alright. Be back in a few,” he said as he grabbed his jacket and headed out the door.

Maria shook her head. “We could have just drunk beer, you know?”

“Um-hmm.” She chewed on her thumbnail for a moment. Maria wasn’t jumping to offer anything so she pulled the salad out and fussed with it. “How’re things goin’?”

“Just the usual,” Maria answered, trying to keep her voice careless.

“You and Michael seemed to be getting along pretty well yesterday.”

Of all the themes available she had to pick out THAT one, Mara thought bitterly. “He’s okay.”

“Okay? Maria, you practically glow around the guy!”

God, why did she have to push the subject? Yeah, because she was Tess. “Can we please not talk about him?” Maria asked, avoiding her friend’s eyes.

“What happened?” Tess demanded. “Did he do somethin’?”

“What? No, he didn’t do anything.”

“Okay, but something’s wrong here, Maria. You wouldn’t be here if Andy was sick and I can’t think of anything else that would make you look like someone just ran over your dog.” Her eyes widened. “No one ran over your dog, right?”

“Theo’s fine, Tess. So am I, I’m just tired.” She could already feel her strength vanishing. A little bit more pushing from Tess and she would just sit here and cry.

“Okay.” She wasn’t buying it, but Maria looked like she was at the breaking point.

The other girl tried to relax in her seat, but she felt uncomfortable. Tess knew something was wrong and it would only take seconds for Kyle to realize it as well.

“Um, I talked to my friend in California and she’s talked to her supplier... we’ll be able to get a discount on our order,” she said, trying to find something to talk about.

“Yeah? That’s cool. Now we just have to figure out what to order.”

“She actually emailed me a list...” she pushed several of the catalogs out of the way to find it. “Just some recommendations she made for getting started.”

“Cool, it’d take hours for us to find the right things.”

Tess snorted. “True. We can cut a lot of that out. Oh, and she said her supplier’s runnin’ a special right now too... the items she marked with a little dash are marked down pretty significantly.”

“I can’t wait to get started,” Maria said, feeling at least a little bit of excitement.

“Once we get the order in it won’t take long. I’ve already made the necessary calls about permits and stuff and it won’t take long to get started on the renovations once it’s all approved.”

“Wow, we’re really doin’ this huh?”

“We’re doin’ this.” Tess grinned and leaned back against the counter, her hands curled around the edge. “Kyle’s gonna talk to his boss about transferring to New Mexico.” Okay, it wasn’t really related to their current discussion, but she just wanted to share it with someone.

“Yeah?” Maria smiled. She had already expected that for a while now. “That’s good for the two of you.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s getting serious, huh?”

“Definitely serious... more serious than I expected, but I’m happy about it.”

Once again Maria was thrown back into her own misery, but she tried to not show it. She really was happy for Tess and Kyle, they deserved to be together. “I can see that.”

Tess nodded and bit her bottom lip. Maria just wasn’t opening up tonight. “Okay, so, got an idea about the color scheme?”

“Hmm, we should go with warm colors... maybe some brighter violet?”

“That would be nice,” she agreed. “Atmosphere is so important.”

“Yeah and blue would just be too cold.”

“Then we definitely don’t want blue.”

“We can drive to the store this week and have a look at some colors. They look so much different in person than they do in the catalog.”

“Oh, good point. And Kyle’s already agreed to help with the painting.”

“Once our house is ready, I might be able to get Andy to help a bit as well.”

“Wonder if I can get my brother to pitch in... maybe it’d be good for him. Whatcha think?”

“Yeah, if he’s got the time. I know he’s been traveling a lot lately. But maybe the twins can be helpful.”

“Hmm, the twins and Andy... turned loose with paint. I’m not so sure about that.”

Maria giggled. “Yeah, maybe we should separate them, put them in different rooms.”

“Good luck with that.”

“I guess we’ll get the renovations done pretty quickly. The rooms aren’t that big.”

“Yeah. I talked to a couple of contractors and already got the estimates for knocking out the walls we had talked about.”

“You’ve been busy, huh?”

Tess shrugged. “Just excited about getting things started.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Besides, you have Andy at home so I have a little more free time than you do.”

“At least Andy’s at an age where he’s able to feed himself,” Maria said, smiling. “And obviously old enough to have a girlfriend too.”

“Yeah, how’s that goin’?” She wondered if Maria had noticed him sneaking off at the same time that Sam had disappeared at the party.

“He’s not talking to me about it, but he keeps his cell close all day.”

Tess nodded. “Well, Sam seems like a nice girl.”

“Yeah, I think she’s good for him.”

“He did seem to be in a pretty good mood yesterday.”

“He enjoyed his time with Scrappy.”

“That’s one smart kid. Good grief, I couldn’t keep up with him on some of the stuff we were talkin’ about.”

“Yeah, he was always ahead of his age.”

“Andy seems to respond well to him.”

“Yeah, Scrappy helped a lot after Andrew died. If Andy was talking to anyone then it was him.”

“A good friend can make all the difference,” Tess said with a smile.

“Yeah,” Maria agreed.

“So... we can talk in circles all night, Maria, but Kyle will only be able to waste so much time at the store.”

“What’re you talking about?” She pretended to be clueless.

Tess popped a crouton in her mouth, chewing on it thoughtfully for a moment before she nodded. “Alright... if that’s the way you wanna play it we’ll do this your way. But I think you’ve got somethin’ on your mind, somethin’ that’s really botherin’ you... and you can talk to me like we both know you really wanna do or you can wait until Kyle comes back and you can talk to him.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it at all,” Maria groaned.

“Okay.” She shrugged and reached for another crouton. “What would you like to talk about then?”

“I don’t know... tell me about the rodeo.”

Tess wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure there’s much there to tell. We went, we watched people strap themselves to the backs of large smelly animals that were apparently not very happy about it. Justin didn’t want to leave, Nick asked Sarah to the Harvest Dance, and Kara got to ride a horse.” She rolled her eyes. “I nearly had to hurt Jack though... he seriously tried to talk Kyle into somethin’ called bareback riding.” She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, that wasn’t a reference to sex without a condom either... they just get on some wild horse without a saddle, hold onto a rope, and pray to God they don’t get killed. Ungh, and Kyle was considering it!”

Maria chuckled. “Yeah, well, he was always a little insane.”

“Yeah, well, insane I can live with... stupid is a different matter.”

“He’s still a little boy sometimes, isn’t he?”

“He can be.”

“I heard that,” Kyle said as he walked in again.

“No one was tellin’ any lies about you,” Tess said, smiling at him when he opened the refrigerator and tried to find a spot for the wine.

He shot a questioning look at her and nodded towards Maria.

Tess shook her head. “Hey, would you hand me the garlic bread please? The lasagna only has five more minutes.”

“Sure,” he flipped it from one hand to the other and threw it in her direction.

“Should I run it in for a touchdown now?”

Maria snorted at that and then giggled.

Kyle and Tess exchanged a surprised look. Okay, it hadn’t been that funny. Although, he wasn’t certain Maria was really enjoying their comedic routine... she sounded like she was on the verge of hysterics. Kyle cleared his throat. “Um, Maria... you okay?”

Maria held her hands in front of her face when the giggles turned into sobs that she couldn’t suppress.

He hurried to crouch down in front of her, reaching up to gently clasp one wrist. “Maria, what’s wrong?”

She couldn’t say anything since the sobs refused to stop. I shouldn’t have come here, she thought. Now I’ve ruined their evening as well.

Kyle pulled her into his arms and rubbed her shoulder while trying to figure out what could’ve happened to bring this on. Everything had been fine yesterday. Andy had been happy, Maria had been getting along well with Michael... He winced as he put the two together. ‘She must’ve talked to Andy about Michael,’ he mouthed.

Tess lifted her eyebrows, thinking about that possibility. “I’ll get her a glass of water.”

“You talked to Andy, didn’t you?” he asked quietly. “You talked to him and he didn’t wanna hear that you’re ready to move on.”

She just nodded in his arms, not ready to say those hurtful words out loud.

“Okay. Hey, it’s just a hurdle and it’s one he’s gonna have to get past.” Damn, she had to be at a point where she needed something to be easy for once.

Maria nodded again, willing to believe he was right. Hoping he was right.

Tess placed a glass of water on the table next to Maria. “How’d he react? Was he mad? Hurt?”

“I don’t know,” she croaked. “More mad I guess.”

“Kyle’s right, he just has to get used to you moving on.”

“Yeah,” she sighed, feeling her emotional exhaustion.

Tess bit her lip as she glanced at Kyle. “So... what’re you gonna do now?”

“Nothin’, what else can I do?”

“Well... but what about Michael?”

“I have to talk to him, just not today.” She didn’t feel strong enough for that yet.

“Maria,” Kyle said quietly, knowing from her tone that she had every intention of telling Michael they couldn’t see each other, “you can’t put your life on hold, girl.”

“So what?” she snapped. “Should I just ignore Andy and meet Michael even if it means I’ll push my son further away?”

“Hey, hey, I’m not sayin’ that,” he denied. “All I’m sayin’ is don’t be too quick to let this thing with Michael pass. Do you even have the faintest clue that when you’re around him you look like you’re more alive than you’ve been in a long time? I get that you might have to take it slow, just... don’t end it before it can really begin.”

“As long as Andy’s not okay with it there won’t be a beginning, Kyle.”

He sighed. He knew it was a difficult position to be in and it wasn’t one he envied. “You’ve gotta do what you believe is right and I respect that, but puttin’ your life on hold indefinitely isn’t fair to you.”

“And doin’ something my son isn’t okay with is?”

“No, he’s not sayin’ that, Maria. It’s just...” Tess trailed off. She didn’t have any kids so how could she really tell Maria what she should do? “We just don’t want you to miss out on somethin’ that could be good for you. It’d be good for Andy too... eventually... when he’s able to deal with the change.”

Eventually... a word she couldn’t hear anymore but she knew she had to. “I’m not sayin’ that I’ll give up hope, I just...” she trailed off and shrugged sadly.

“So, what’re you gonna do then? Are you gonna try to talk to him about this again?”

“I don’t know... maybe it’s too early for him to accept it.”

“I’m really sorry, Maria,” she said as she rubbed her sister-in-law’s shoulder. “If we can do anything...”

“I don’t think there’s anything...”

Kyle knew Maria didn’t have any answers and it wasn’t likely they would find the solution tonight. She was probably exhausted from trying to deal with the situation and she needed a break from it. “You feel up to havin’ dinner?”

“Not really hungry.”

“How rude will you think I am if I eat?” he asked.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Now ask him how he can possibly be hungry after stuffing his face all day at the rodeo and even scarfing down a sandwich that Liz gave him when we dropped the kids off.”

Maria snorted. “Go an’ eat Kyle.”

He dropped a kiss on her head and hurried over to the counter to put the garlic bread in the oven. Five minutes and dinner would be ready. “Babe, you’re gonna eat, right?” he asked as he opened a cabinet to pull plates down.

“Yeah, a bit.”

He nodded and pulled three plates down, just in case. He busied himself with setting the table around them as Tess tried to distract Maria with talk about supply orders and equipment. He didn’t know what the answer was but he hoped it wouldn’t be too late when it revealed itself.

Cardinal: Andy’s behavior is selfish, no doubt about that, but it’s something he’s going to have to learn for himself.

You could be right about Andy and Max… that has yet to be seen.

begonia9508: Oh, Andy will come around eventually.

Sam’s learning that there are some good things about Dad dating.

We have seen a little bit of progress between Max and Liz, haven’t we?

Earth2Mama: It was selfish of Andy, but he’s going to have to learn that for himself. As for Maria giving in to his demand… she’s in a very difficult place right now, but never fear, the subject may have been tabled for the moment, but it is by no means shelved.

Max and Liz are making some good progress.

Lol, Liz was kind enough to spare him.

Sam is learning that there are some advantages to Dad dating. Oh, we’ll see what it takes for Andy to back off and see what he’s doing.

Michael’s reaction… we’ll find out before too long.

Eva: Andy will have to come to the realization that his behavior is selfish and is also hurting his mom.

Yep, that first dance can be nerve-wracking, lol.

Natalie36: You just never know who might be instrumental in helping Andy to see the error of his ways.

Alien_Friend: While expected, it was certainly painful. It might take some time for Andy to see the truth.

That’s so true, lol. We could see more scenes with Isabel and Sam considering her burgeoning relationship with Andy.

Nick definitely has his own style.

Their family scenes are a lot of fun to write.

Over 600 posted… and nearly 200 more written.

mary mary: Andy’s selfish behavior is something he’s going to have to figure out for himself. We’ll see how he comes to the realization that his behavior needs to be evaluated and changed.

Lol, somehow, we don’t think the Evans household is going to expand to include that pony no matter how much Kara wants one.

Ah, next week finally arrives with a new update…

sarammlover: Andy makes everyone mad sometimes, lol. Yeah, that whole texting thing was rude. Max and Liz seem to be on the mend. We’ll see if that lasts. Maria and Michael… well, Andy’s gonna have to acknowledge just how selfish he’s being and see that his actions are hurting his mom.

keepsmiling7: Thanks! More on the way…

Andy agrees with you, lol. We’ll see how he adjusts to the situation.

killjoy: Well, he does have his moments when he’s not so loveable.

Okay, great, now Oscar’s gone into hiding… and Sam’s not happy with that comment, lol.

Tess wasn’t about to let her guy get involved in the rodeo… at all! Ah, Liz isn’t trying to hold him back. She just doesn’t want to encourage his interest in a sport as dangerous as rodeo, lol. But we’re pretty sure Justin isn’t gonna just let it go, whether or not she’s enthusiastic about it ‘cause like Jack said, this kid’s got the bug, lol.



Part 67

“Hey Dad?”

Alex turned his head to look at his daughter when she leaned in the kitchen doorway, her eyes locked on her cell phone as her thumbs punched in a message. “What’s up, Sam?”

“I know we were gonna watch a movie, but um… I kinda have a friend who needs to talk.” She sent the message and looked up. “Is it cool if I skip the movie?”

Isabel glanced between the two of them as she waited for Alex to hand her the next dish.

“This friend would be…?”

Sam shrugged one shoulder. “Andy. He’s havin’ a really crappy day an’ he needs someone to talk to.” She bit her lip while she waited for his answer. Andy was really upset about something his mom had talked to him about and she was afraid he might do something stupid if he didn’t calm down.

Alex shook the excess water off of his hands and turned around to lean back against the sink. “Is he at home?”

“No. He’s just out walkin’ around.”

“Alright, he said after thinking about it for a minute. “You can invite him over if you want to.”

“Really? Thanks, Dad!” She ran across the room to give him a quick hug before hurrying out of the room, already busy composing a text.

“That was hard to get out, wasn’t it?”

Alex glanced at her as he reached for a plate. “You have no idea.” He shook his head. “She’s positive Andy’s just misunderstood, that he’s not a troublemaker.”

“You disagree?”

“Hell, I don’t really know him all that well. What I do know is he’s 16 years old and as a rule, 16-year-old boys have one thing on their minds.”

Isabel smirked at him. “I hope you’re not trying to tell me that changes with age because I know better.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, yeah. The difference is that women get wiser with age; it takes a lot more to impress us and we make you work a lot harder. We’re definitely more easily impressed as teenagers and we think some of the goofiest things you say and do make you absolutely brilliant.” She winked at him. “Age clears up that misconception as well.”

He laughed and shook his head. “That’s good to know.”

She made a face. “Doesn’t really help right now though, does it?”

“Not really, no.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I know it’s all part of growin’ up and she’s gotta be allowed to make her own decisions… and her own mistakes too.”

Isabel smiled. “You just wanna protect her, Alex, and that makes sense. You’re her dad, you’re always gonna want what’s best for her.”

*****

Andy stood in front of Sam’s house and sighed. He wasn’t really looking forward to facing her dad, but what was the other choice? Going home felt much worse right now. He raised his hand slowly and knocked on the door.

Sam nearly tripped over Oscar in her haste to get to the door before her dad could get there first and completely embarrass her. She pulled the door open and smiled at Andy as she pushed the screen door open and motioned for him to come inside. “Hey, how’s it goin’?”

The boy shrugged wordlessly and stepped inside, feeling even more uncomfortable now.

“Alex,” Isabel called when he started to get up from the couch. “You told her they could go out in the backyard to talk...” she glanced at the kids, noting that Andy really did look upset. “Why don’t you and I watch the movie?”

“Hello,” Alex greeted Andy with a nod and turned to his daughter. “Do you need anything?”

Sam shot a speculative glance at the principal. Had she really just helped her? “No, we’re just gonna get somethin’ to drink an’ go hang out in the backyard.” She paused. “Is that cool?”

Was that cool? No, but he knew he had to let her go. “Sure.”

She released a relieved breath. “Thanks, Daddy. C’mon, Andy.” She grabbed his hand and practically dragged him out of the room.

Andy followed her blindly as a new thought entered her mind. Would she expect him to kiss her after yesterday? Damn, why hadn’t he thought about this first?

Sam suddenly turned, bringing them chest to chest because he was still moving. “Um...” Shit, what had she been planning to say? Her free hand settled on his upper arm as she took a step back. “Drink... ya want somethin’ to drink?”

He was surprised by her sudden stop and he swallowed hard. “Um, yeah. Sure.”

“Okay.” She stood there for another minute, frozen to the spot. Move, you idiot! “Right.” She squeezed her eyes shut as she faced the refrigerator and jerked it open. Way to be cool, Whitman!

“Do you have Coke?” he asked, stepping behind her a little closer. She was insecure, but he had a feeling it was just because she didn’t know whether to kiss him or not.

Sam could feel him standing so close and she wondered if she should just turn around and kiss him. Maybe it was too soon... he hadn’t made a move to kiss her a second ago. He’s upset, she reminded herself. But he had just moved closer so maybe... “Um, Coke? Yeah, I think so.”

“Cool,” he said, momentarily pushing the upsetting thoughts about Mom and Michael aside.

A shiver raced down her spine when his breath brushed against her neck. Her hand wrapped around a can of Coke and she took a deep breath. “We should go out back before my dad comes in here,” she whispered.

“Okay,” he agreed just as quietly. Yeah, he wasn’t really looking forward to meeting Mr. Whitman like this.

Sam led the way out onto the back porch and turned to close the door behind them. What should she talk about? He hadn’t said anything about his mom yet, maybe he didn’t wanna talk about it. “So, Jenny called me a while ago. She said Nicky finally asked Sarah to the dance.”

“Yeah, I know, he badgered me about it all day yesterday.”

She rolled her eyes. “It took him long enough. The dance isn’t that far off. Jenny’s gonna ask Justin before she ends up without a date for the dance.”

Did Sam already have a date? he wondered. Was she waiting for him to ask him? But he wasn’t even sure if he wanted to go to the stupid dance.

Sam cleared her throat when he just looked at her. Could she make it any more obvious that she was waiting for him to ask her? Maybe she should just ask him. Maybe later, she decided. “So, did Scrappy make his flight on time?”

“Yeah, sadly,” he admitted and took a seat on the swing on the porch.

“I know you didn’t want him to go back,” she said as she looked at him. “Maybe he’ll get to come back over the summer or somethin’.”

“Yeah, he said he already talked to his mom about it and she agreed we could hang out. We just have to decide if he’ll come here of if I go back to Miami.”

“Oh, so you might go there for the summer?” She bit her lip as she thought about not seeing him for a month or two.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know yet.”

She nodded. “Are you mad at your mom?” she asked after several minutes.

Damn, why’d she have to ask that? he thought and glanced over at her where she was still leaning against the porch railing. Far away from him. Maybe he had been wrong and she wasn’t unsure about kissing him.

She looked at him when he didn’t answer, trying to decipher his expression. “We can talk about somethin’ else if you want.”

He rested his head on the soft cushions at his back. “Yeah.”

Sam cast about for something to talk about and kept coming up blank. How was that even possible? She always had something to talk about! “Okay, so...”

He lowered his head to look at her again. “Why’re you standin’ over there?” It irritated him.

She shrugged, annoyed with him for not kissing her again as well as for his attitude. “Why’s it matter?”

Andy swallowed, not knowing what to say. Be a man, he reminded himself and got up from his seat to walk towards her, slowly.

Sam leaned back against the railing, hands wrapped around it tightly when he approached her. Now what?

He closed the distance between them, taking his time with it. He placed his hands on either side of her on the railing as he lowered his head to look down at her. Wow, he hadn’t realized before that she was so small compared to him.

“What’re you doin’?” she babbled. Two seconds ago he had been all pissy, did she really want to kiss him now?

“Nothin’,” he said huskily. Kiss her, his brain said and he decided that he should risk it. She had kissed him back yesterday and she wasn’t looking like she would back off right now. His head lowered slowly as his gaze locked on her lips.

Sam seriously considered backing off since he was in a mood, but he was so close she could feel the heat radiating off of him and just being so close to him made her feel dizzy. And she really wanted to kiss him again too.

His lips brushed over hers gently, just for a brief moment to test her reaction. She didn’t back off, which made him braver and he repeated the action again, with more pressure this time.

Her hand came up to rest on his shoulder when she felt one of his arms slide around her waist and she pressed closer against him. She had never experienced feelings like this with anyone else and she really liked it.

Oh, man, she was really into this, he thought when he felt her body against his. Damn, he was definitely reacting to this.

Oscar wiggled through the pet door and squealed loudly in a bid for attention. Not now, Oscar! Sam thought. She tried to ignore him, gently nudging him back when he tried to wedge himself between them.

Andy chuckled at their little interruption and leaned his forehead against her. “Think he’s got somethin’ to say?”

“He’s an attention hound and if he doesn’t get what he wants he’ll continue to squeal.” She stared into his eyes as she brought her thumb up to brush over his lips. They were so soft, she thought absently. “My dad will eventually hear him and know that if Oscar’s bein’ ignored we’re up to somethin’.”

Andy made a face. “I think we don’t want that.”

She laughed lightly. “Um, no.”

“Whatcha want, little pig, huh?” he asked and crouched down.

Oscar snuffled into the palm of the boy’s hand when he held it out and he wiggled around happily as he dropped down to sit on the porch.

“Uh-huh, okay, and that means?”

“That means you’re paying attention to him and now he’s happy,” Sam answered for him.

“And how long will he need my attention?”

She snorted. “That just depends on him.”

“Great,” the boy said, frustrated, and poked the pig’s side to annoy it.

“Andy!” she chastised.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“He has teeth, ya know.”

“And?” He grinned. “I have teeth too, and I love pork.”

She made a face at him. “That’s just mean.” She sat on the top step and snapped her fingers to get Oscar’s attention.

The little pig lifted his head and looked for the source of the sound before he ran towards her.

“You have to stay away from carnivores,” she whispered as she patted his side affectionately.

Andy snorted. “I didn’t know you’re a vegetarian now.”

“I’m not, but I’ve never threatened to eat someone’s pet either.”

“That’s just because no one has a pig as a pet,” he teased amused.

“Lots of people have pigs as pets,” she insisted. “They’re cleaner than dogs are.”

“I honestly never met anyone with a pig as a pet,” he said and walked over to her, dropping down behind her and placing his legs on each side of her. He knew it was dangerous since her father could step out at any minute, but he had a date and was distracted right? “That’s before I met you though,” he told her.

“I don’t know, Andy,” she said, her eyes locked on his long legs bracketing her body. “I think you might’ve hurt Oscar’s feelings.”

“Nah,” he leaned forward to wiggle one of Oscar’s ears, bringing their bodies into contact with his movement. “He still loves me.”

Sam tried to keep her breathing normal, but damn it was hard with him pressed up against her. “Well... he might like you a little.”

“Not might,” he denied and leaned back again, testing to see if she would make a move and lean into him or not.

“We’ll see,” she said as she shifted back, her body following his without a second thought.

He smirked secretly at her move and rested his hand behind him to steady himself. “Yeah, I guess.”

She took his hand that was resting on her thigh, running her fingers over it before sliding her own through his and interlocking their hands. “Are you happy here?” She shrugged one shoulder. “I know you hated it when you first got here.”

“It’s okay, I guess,” he said with a shrug and squeezed her hand to tell her she was a part of why it was okay.

“Would you rather be back in Miami?”

“No,” he said honestly.

She nodded happily and wiggled around to settle back against him more comfortably. “I’m glad you moved here,” she said as she tipped her head back against his shoulder and kissed his jaw before looking back out at Oscar where he was playing in the yard.

He used his interlocked hands to tip her head back again and lowered his own. “Yeah, you should be,” he teased slightly and let his lips brush against hers.

“Um-hmm,” she murmured, mentally rolling her eyes at his superior tone.

Andy leaned forward again, using his free hand to cradle her cheek as he pressed his lips against hers again. He wondered if he should take it any further than this, but maybe she would think that it was too soon and the last thing he wanted was a ‘we-should-take-things-slow’ speech.

Alex felt his blood pressure shoot through the roof when he brushed the curtain aside to check the backyard. Good grief, he was gonna have a stroke well before his 40th birthday, he thought. He inhaled deeply, his grip on the doorknob tight enough to leave an imprint on his palm, and he pulled the door open. He cleared his throat and watched the two of them jump apart guiltily.

“Dad!” Sam shrieked and got up quickly, brushing the dust from her jeans and crossing her arms over her chest. “What’re you doin’ outside?”

The sight of his little girl, flushed from a combination of embarrassment and making out with her... boyfriend was not what he had wanted to see when he had decided to check on them. He took in another deep breath and motioned between them. “Tryin’ to figure out what exactly the two of you were talkin’ about. I’m fairly certain that talkin’ doesn’t require physical contact.”

“Dad,” Sam complained. Was he really giving her shit in front of Andy now? Gosh, how embarrassing!

“Don’t ‘Dad’ me, Samantha. I agreed to let Andy come over because you said he needed to talk... That,” he shook his head, “that was not talkin’.” At least not the kind of conversing she needed to be getting into right now.

She sighed and glanced at Andy apologetically. “I think it’d be better if ya go now.”

“We weren’t doin’ anything wrong, Mr. Whitman,” Andy said as he stood and brushed the seat of his jeans off.

“Oh, really, and coming to my house and sticking your tongue down my daughter’s throat was the right thing to do after everything that’s already happened?” he snapped, knowing he was overreacting right now, but he couldn’t help it.

“Dad!” She was going to die of terminal embarrassment, she was sure of it. What was gonna happen if Andy actually asked her to the dance? At this rate she wasn’t even gonna be allowed to go!

“In the house,” he told her, his tone strict as he pointed to the door.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “Why’s it okay for you to make out with your girlfriend but it’s not okay for me to kiss a guy I like?” Her heart was pounding because she had never defied her dad like this but she stood her ground.

Andy looked back and forth between Sam and her father and decided it was time to go. “See you at school,” he whispered.

Sam almost told him to stay but she didn’t want to put him in the middle of this thing. Instead she nodded. Great, now on top of whatever was already bothering him he had to deal with her dad’s massive freak-out over a kiss. “It’ll be okay, Andy,” she assured him.

He just snorted and made his way through the backyard and out onto the street again.

Alex looked at the yard, his expression stern. “I’ll wait for you inside,” he said and shoved the door open.

Sam turned and stared at the backyard, wondering if she should just drop it and do what her dad wanted. They had never really argued about anything. They had disagreements, sure, but nothing that felt like what this could turn into.

Alex stalked into the kitchen, pacing around while he waited for his daughter to enter the house. The back door was shoved closed with more force than Sam had intended and she winced at the noise it made. Dad was waiting for her and she had really hoped that he would just go back to his date.

“Go to your room and we’ll talk about this later,” Alex said when he realized that Isabel was still there and he didn’t want to pull her into this.

“Go to my room? I’m not five years old anymore, Dad! If you’ve got somethin’ to say to me just say it! I don’t care if she hears it!” She was yelling but she couldn’t make herself stop. She hadn’t done anything to make her dad mistrust her and she felt like he was being so unfair about this.

“Sam, don’t argue with me right now unless you wanna be grounded for the rest of high school.”

“Does it matter? You’re gonna ground me anyway just for kissin’ Andy! What’d you think I was gonna do, wait until I was married before I ever kissed a guy?”

“I expect you to be honest with me,” he yelled back. “And that means not coming up with cover stories to meet boys. I don’t know that boy and as for now I don’t trust him.”

“You think I lied to you?” she asked, hurt that he thought that. “I was being honest with you, Dad! He was upset... he’s still upset! He just... he needed to calm down before he could talk about whatever was bothering him!”

He snorted. “I doubt that’s the way to calm down, Samantha.”

She rolled her eyes. Okay, maybe she was new to this, but Andy had seemed to be calming down to her. He wasn’t exactly opening up right away and now who knew when he would? “How can you not trust me?” she shouted.

“I trust you, Sam. I just don’t trust teenage boys with raging hormones!”

“Well, maybe you should just lock me in my room until I’m like 30 because I’m pretty sure teenage hormones aren’t gonna just stop ragin’ ‘cause you don’t want me to grow up!” She kicked the barstool as she passed it. “I don’t understand why now all of the sudden you don’t trust me to do the right thing. You can say it’s about Andy all you want, but unless you think he’s some... some... I don’t know, some rapist, I don’t know what you’re all worried about!”

Isabel suddenly appeared in the doorway and glanced at them. “Maybe I should go home,” she said, knowing it wasn’t her business to say anything about this.

Sam shook her head as tears of frustration filled her eyes. As far as she was concerned Dad didn’t trust her and she didn’t want to talk about it anymore anyway. “No, you stay an’ I’ll just go to my room.” She shot a look at her dad. “Since the rules are different for you.”

“We haven’t spoken the last word about this,” he yelled after her. “And don’t compare my rules with yours, young lady.”

Isabel bit her lip as she watched him. He looked so frustrated with the situation. “That probably could’ve gone a little better.”

“You think?” He bit his lip. “Sorry, I need to take some deep breaths.”

She nodded and waited several minutes before she spoke up. “Alex, she’s your daughter and you’ve got to do what you think is right, but...” she hesitated a moment. “Holding on too tightly can easily backfire on you,” she said gently.

“I know that... in theory.”

She smiled and leaned against the counter next to him. “I was a 15-year-old girl once, ya know? She’s got a good head on her shoulders and the two of you have an amazing relationship... don’t risk losing all of that.” She rubbed his arm lightly. “You’re right about Andy, he is a 16-year-old boy with raging hormones and one thing on his mind, but at some point you’re gonna have to trust your daughter to make the right choices even when you aren’t there to guide her.”

“How much trouble is that boy, Isabel? I just don’t want her to lose her focus on the more important things like school right now.”

“Alex, your daughter has a solid foundation and she’s very focused on what she wants. Andy’s a good kid, he’s just a little lost right now. I know the fact they like each other is making you crazy, but it was bound to happen at some point.”

“That,” he pointed at the porch, “was more than them liking each other.”

“Alex... I know she’s your little girl, but earlier you were saying that you knew she had to be allowed to make her own decisions and her own mistakes, remember?”

He made a face and leaned against the counter. “She’s only 15 and I’m not sure if I’m ready to deal with the thought of her having a boyfriend already.”

“Somehow I doubt you’re ever gonna be ready,” she said with a quiet laugh. “And holdin’ her too tightly could easily push her away. You guys have a great relationship, Alex. You actually talk to each other. Now is not the time you want that to change... not that you ever want that to change, but right now, when she’s just discovering boys?” She shook her head. “You want her to be able to come to you, especially now.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “I know you’re right.”

“Don’t let distance build between the two of you. You were a teenage boy once, but she’s a teenage girl... and on top of raging hormones are confused feelings and emotions. She wants to be her daddy’s little girl but she’s at an age where she’s ready to start being her own person too.”

“At times like this I really wish there had been a mother in the picture, ya know?” he said with a sad smile. “Bet she’d be more understanding right now.”

Isabel smiled. “I don’t know, Alex. I think it all depends on the relationship you have with your parents. You’re lucky. The two of you have a very open relationship. She knows she can come to you with everything and so many kids just feel like they can’t talk to their parents about anything at all.”

“She doesn’t talk to me about Andy,” he winced, “but that’s probably my own fault.”

“Well, if you’re gonna act like a crazy man on the verge of a major stroke she probably isn’t gonna talk to you about him.” She rested one hand over his on the countertop. “She asked you if she could skip the movie to help a friend. She could’ve lied and said she was going to a friend’s house and gone to meet him, but she didn’t.”

“You’re probably right.” He glanced up the stairs. “I guess I’ll trying to talk to her tomorrow.”

“Are you really gonna let it go that long?”

“I doubt she’ill talk to me tonight.”

“Do you think she’d respond better to a woman?”

“Generally I’d say yes, but now that I’ve already messed it up...” he shook his head, “she’d be even more mad if I sent you up there for this talk.”

“Well, the offer’s open if you ever change your mind. Sometimes it helps to have someone to vent to when Dad’s being a jerk who doesn’t understand anything,” she said with a teasing smile.

He chuckled. “I’ll get back to you.”

“Maybe I should go home and give the two of you some time just in case she decides to grace you with her presence tonight.”

Alex didn’t want her to leave yet, but he knew it was necessary. “I’ll call you in the mornin’.”

She smiled. “Do that. Maybe we can get together for dinner one night this week.”

“I’d love to,” he said and walked over to her to brush a kiss against her lips.

“If you decide not to ground Sam until the next century you can come over for dinner. Maybe we’ll watch the movie we had picked out for tonight.” She leaned into him and her hand rested against the back of his neck as she kissed him back.

The silence was interrupted by loud stomping and door slamming upstairs as Sam stalked back and forth between her bedroom and the bathroom. Alex ended the kiss and sighed. “Guess I should try to calm the beast before she breaks something.”

Isabel chuckled and lightly scratched her nails against his neck. “Just remember to stay calm no matter how much you’d like to just lose it.”

“I’ll do my best.”

She kissed him once more. “I’ll let myself out.”

“Be safe.”

“Always.”

Earth2Mama: There was, but Alex is a single dad and he’s suddenly in a position he’s never been in… we figure he’s allowed to make a few mistakes. He’ll do better with a little help from Isabel.

keepsmiling7: Great, aren’t they?

Isabel’s going to be very good for Alex and Sam.

begonia9508: Alex just wasn’t quite ready for that. We’re pretty sure his mind’s definitely back on his own teenage years. Isabel will be very helpful for Alex and his daughter.

mary mary: Well, lol, we’re actually not gonna shove a bunch of bs down your throat. At least, we’re gonna try not to. Alex wasn’t lurking or spying, he was just checking on the kids and saw a little bit more than he was expecting. He’s a single father and has raised his daughter on his own so he might be a little more overprotective of his little girl. Sam is a good kid and he knows it. He does trust her… he’s just not so sure about Andy. This is the first time that Sam’s had any interest in a boy and that boy’s been in trouble, so he’s wary of the situation. Isabel will give him a hand and provide a little guidance though.

Alien_Friend: No, it’s not, lol, and a single parent’s even more difficult. Isabel will be instrumental as we go forward.

Sam will eventually get Andy to talk to her.

Potbellied pigs are awesome pets.

sarammlover: Isabel’s definitely gonna be good for these two. Sam and Andy… they’re in those first stages of young love… great, isn’t it? Don’t worry, Sam will eventually get him to open up about what’s going on with his mom and some other stuff as well.

Eva: Well, lol, his timing and his reaction could’ve been better.

It’s hard to say as a parent how you’d react in that situation, but Alex now has someone to help him out and we’re pretty sure Isabel’s gonna help both of them.

Rodney: Nope, not at all. He might have overreacted, but he’ll see that soon enough.




Part 68

Liz looked up from the folder of information Max was taking with him on his trip when Justin knocked on their open bedroom door. She controlled the urge to roll her eyes when she saw that he was wearing the cowboy hat again. He had talked about the rodeo, Jack, and the summer job all through dinner and she just knew this phase wasn’t going to pass as quickly as she would like it to.

“Hey, Mom.”

“What’s up, sweetie?”

“Um, you know how Nick’s gotta have a tux for the dance Saturday night?”

“Um-hmm.”

“Okay, well, I’m kinda gonna need one too.”

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You asked someone to the dance today? Why didn’t you say anything earlier?”

“Well, not exactly. Jenny called a while ago an’ she asked me… or told me,” he made a face. “I’m not really sure which, but we’re gonna go together an’ so I need a tux.”

“Alright, we’ll get it taken care of.”

“Okay.”

“Was there something else, Justin?” she asked when he leaned on the doorframe.

“So, Dad’s goin’ outta town again tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah, he has meeting’s in Oklahoma this week.”

Justin nodded. “So… are you still mad at him for doin’ that?” He moved over to the bed and sat down, watching her.

Liz bit her lip and watched him for a moment before setting the folder aside and sitting up straighter. “Justin, your dad and I have had some… misunderstandings, on both of our parts, but we’re working on that.” She reached out to rest her hand on his arm. “We did a lot of talking today and I have a better understanding of what’s going on.”

“You’re not mad at him anymore then?” he asked cautiously.

“No, I’m not.”

He nodded and pushed his hat back. “So you guys are gonna be okay?”

“We’re gonna be okay, Justin.” She smiled and reached up to brush her fingers over the brim of the hat. “You’re really into this cowboy thing, aren’t you?”

“You shoulda been there, Mom,” he said with a grin. “Jack got to ride a bull an’ it was awesome! He knows like everything there is to know about rodeo and we got to go down and hang out behind the chutes.” He picked at the frayed hole in the knee of his jeans. “Are you an’ Dad really gonna talk to the manager out at the fairgrounds?”

“You know a job like that would probably mean very early mornings, no sleeping late during your summer break.”

“Yeah, an’ Jack said it’d be hard work an’ it’d suck sometimes but it’d be worth it.”

She smiled. Justin was enamored with Kyle’s partner. “If it really means that much to you then your dad and I will talk to him.”

“Cool.” He surged forward to hug her tightly. “Thanks, Mom.” He released her after a moment and bounded to the door, once again reminding her of an exuberant puppy.

“Thanks, Dad,” Justin said as he passed him on his way out of his parents’ bedroom. “G’night.”

“No problem. G’night, Justin. You boys get settled down for the night.” He looked at his wife as he closed the door behind him. “What was he thankin’ me for?”

“I told him we’d talk to that guy about the summer job.”

Max chuckled as he took the folder from her hands and stretched out to place it in his briefcase where it lay open on the foot of the bed.

“Justin’s also got a date for the dance Saturday night.”

“Jenny?” He smiled and nodded. “She called a while ago.”

“I can’t believe they’re old enough to be going to a dance already.”

“I know. Seems like it wasn’t that long ago when I was teachin’ ‘em to throw a football.” He paused. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be back on Friday, but I’m not gonna be back in time to take them to get outfitted for their tuxes.”

Liz sat forward and reached up to frame his face in her hands. “Max, I can take care of that. You just focus on that meeting and getting back home as soon as you can.” She shook her head when she heard the boys arguing about something. “Tell you what, since I’ve gotta take them to get their tuxes you can go take care of whatever war’s broken out now.”

He leaned in to give her a kiss. “Don’t go anywhere, I’ll be right back.”

She fell back against the pillows stacked behind her and waved him off. “Hurry up. You’ll be gone the next four nights… Four very long, very lonely nights…”

He groaned and shoved himself up. “You’re bein’ seriously unfair.” He rolled his eyes when he heard Lucky barking followed by the sound of something being knocked over. “You just had to have that dog,” he muttered.

Liz just smiled at him and got comfortable while she waited for him to sort things out and come back to her.

*****

Alex glanced up the stairs again and nodded to himself before taking the first step.

Sam immediately rolled her eyes when she heard footsteps getting closer. Of course he wouldn’t give her any time alone and would try to talk it all out before it was time to sleep. She rolled over on her bed to face the wall, away from the door when her father entered the room after knocking.

Alex sighed as he glanced around her room before pulling out the desk chair and removing the stack of clothes there. “You think we can talk about this?” he asked when it became apparent that the wall was much more interesting than he was.

“What’s there to talk about, Dad?” she grumbled.

“I know you like Andy.” He gritted his teeth for a moment before he forced himself to relax. “A lot.”

Sam snorted but didn’t move. “You think?”

“Sam, this’s new territory for your old man, too.”

The girl bit her lip. She knew her father was trying... she just couldn’t give in yet.

Alex cleared his throat. “Okay, look,” he sighed, “we’re gonna have to figure this out. I’m not willin’ to just throw a good relationship with my daughter away just because I’m not quite ready for her to grow up.”

“I am growing up whether ya want it or not, Dad,” she sighed and rolled over. “That’s nothing you can prevent and I don’t want to wait with it any longer.”

“Right, well... I guess that’s fair enough.” He rubbed one hand over his face. “Are you wantin’ to go to the dance with him?”

“If he ever gets his head outta his ass and asks me,” she said, frustrated.

Alex cleared his throat. “You really like him, huh?”

“Of course I do.”

“Sam, I know I’m actin’ like a lunatic here. Knowin’ you like that boy an’ seein’ the two of you like I did earlier... it wasn’t somethin’ I was ready to see. It’s probably not easy to imagine but I was his age once and that kinda gives me some insight from the male perspective.”

“But you also know me, Dad.”

“I do know you and I know I’ve gotta trust you to make the right decisions... it’s just hard to let go when I know how persuasive guys can be. Especially at his age. He probably seems like the smartest guy out there... attractive, athletic, intelligent and funny... and then there’s the fact that he’s got some issues.” He shook his head. “For some reason that makes guys like him even more attractive.”

“He’s not persuasive, Dad,” she denied. “Okay, he is all the other things you said, but does that make him a bad guy?”

Not persuasive, he thought. Yeah, right. “No, and I’m not sayin’ he’s a bad guy. It’s just... give me some time to get used to you datin’ before I have get used to the rest. Getting a crash course in teenage daughter’s making out with their boyfriends is somethin’ I’m not sure I’m ready for just yet.”

“Am I allowed to kiss him?” she asked. It was weird to talk to her Dad about this stuff, but he had always been there for her, so that wouldn’t change with boys, right?

Alex fought the urge to squirm uncomfortably. It was times like this he wished there was a woman in the picture. Well, he had Isabel now, but he wasn’t sure if Sam would be willing to listen to anything she said. “I’m not gonna say no... even though I’d really like to. I know you’ve gotta grow up and I know we’ve talked about sex and protecting yourself.” God, it was hot in here! “I just don’t want you to make any decisions without thinkin’ things through. And sometimes... when things get intense between a guy and a girl it’s not so easy to think about anything past the moment.”

“Dad,” Sam sat up, “we just started kissing. I’m not planning to have sex with him just like... anytime soon.”

“No, and I’m not sayin’ you are, honey. But, plannin’ to have sex,” he shook his head. “Plans don’t always factor in when it comes to sex.”

“Speaking from your own experiences?”

He cleared his throat and his right hand clenched on his thigh. “Yeah, I am.”

“What’re you afraid of, Dad? That I’ll actually have sex or that I’ll get pregnant?”

“While getting pregnant so young is definitely one of my concerns, there are worse things out there than that... and they all scare me, honey. Would we deal with it? Yeah, we would, but that’s not the point.”

“I know how to protect myself IF I have sex…”

“Right, I know.” That had been a painful conversation to have. “But you have to remember that birth control is not 100% foolproof.”

“Yeah, well,” she scratched her head, “what would you think of me taking the pill, Dad?”

He was sure the color had just drained from his face. “The pill...” But you’re just 15! his panicked mind screamed. Keep it cool, Whitman, keep it cool. It’s better to make sure she’s protected. “Right, um... well, I’m sure I can ask around, get the name of a good...” he nearly choked on the word, “gynecologist.”

“Maybe I could ask Isabel,” Sam assumed.

“You’d be comfortable with that?” he asked carefully.

“Well, I’ll just ask her if she knows one, that’s all.” It couldn’t be that bad, right? “And Dad, that doesn’t mean I’ll rush into anything, okay? Right now I don’t even know if Andy and I are really gonna be boyfriend/girlfriend yet.”

“I’d appreciate that. There’s somethin’ to be said for takin’ your time.”

“Yeah, I know... we just,” she shrugged, “we just kinda had our first few moments so we haven’t even really talked yet.”

He scratched his neck. “Well, you didn’t really get much of a chance to talk.”

“No,” she had to smirk at her Dad. “Not really.”

“Just bear with me here, Sam. This’s gonna take some time to get used to, but I’ll do my best to deal with it. Just promise me that if you have any questions or any concerns you’ll come to me.”

She nodded. “I will, Dad. I always did and this’s no exception. Well, as long as you don’t expect me to talk about every little thing from now on.”

“Well... no, not every little thing. I s’pose you’ve gotta keep some things to yourself. I just wanna make sure you know that you can always come to me with anything and we can talk about it.”

“Okay.”

*****

Maria sighed and hung up the phone again, glancing at her watch nervously. It was already past 11pm and Andy still wasn’t home, which was just not normal on a Sunday night when Monday was a school day.

Please God, don’t let him run away again, she begged quietly. Memories of days in Florida came to mind, days when she hadn’t known where to look for him. He wasn’t answering his cell; she had tried at least five times now after getting back home from her visit with Tess and Kyle.

“Something wrong?” Amy asked when she entered the living room, ready to go to bed soon.

“I wish I knew,” Maria muttered.

“Did you have a fight with Andy?”

She glanced at her mom. Why did the woman always have that sixth sense? “Kinda, yeah.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Amy sat down next to her. “He’s not home yet, right? And you think he’s hiding from you.”

Maria ran her hand through her hair and sighed. “I don’t know what do to, Mom. He’s not answering his cell and I was considering calling some of his friends from school, but it’s already late and I don’t wanna worry other families with late calls. He’s probably just mad at me and wants to annoy me by staying out late.”

“Why’s he mad at you, sweetie?” Amy asked gently, taking the phone from her daughter that she held in a tight grip. She could see Maria had been crying earlier so it had to be something serious.

“I told him I was thinking about getting involved with a new man,” Maria admitted quietly. Even through it was weird, it felt good to talk to Mom about it.

“A new man?” Amy was a little surprised. “Are you talking about Michael?”

Maria glanced at her mother, shocked. “You know?”

The older woman chuckled. “Oh, sweetie, you know I’m not blind.”

“Do you think it’s too early, Mom?”

Amy placed a hand on her daughter’s knee gently. “It’s not too early if you feel ready for it. Of course there’ll be people who talk behind your back and say differently, but Michael’s a good guy.”

“Think some of your friends would talk?” Maria asked. She didn’t want to make her mom uncomfortable in front of the other women.

“Well, maybe some of them will, yes. But I can deal with them.”

Maria nodded. “I seriously don’t really care about what people are saying. I just don’t want you to have to deal with this as well.”

“You don’t need to worry about that, Maria. You’re my daughter and if I had to choose between your happiness and that of a gossiping friend, I’ll always choose you.”

“Thanks. I know that the people I care about are there for me and they’re encouraging me… well, all except one…”

“Andy,” Amy stated.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s ready for this.”

“You think he ever will be?” Amy asked, smiling a little.

Maria looked at her mom, horrified. “No?”

The other woman chuckled. “What I’m trying to say is that I doubt he’ll ever be really ready for this, not in the nearer future at least. But you can help him to deal with it, and Maria, if this’s what you want then you can’t hold back until your son gives you the okay.”

The blonde chewed on her lip while she stared at nothing. Maybe Mom was right, but what if it made everything worse. “I can’t do that to Andy.”

“You don’t have to decide tonight,” Amy said gently as they heard the back door in the kitchen being opened. “Sounds like someone is getting home.”

“I’m gonna go talk to him,” Maria said and pushed herself from the couch to go into the kitchen.

Andy cursed under his breath when his Mom walked in before he could reach the stairs that led to the second floor. Damn, he knew he was in trouble now.

“Where have you been?” Maria asked, trying to say calm.

“Out.”

“Don’t give me that shit, Andy. You know it’s past your curfew for a Sunday.” She wasn’t this strict on the weekends, but she expected him to be home by 10pm at the latest when the next day was a school day.

“I’m home now.”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”

He leaned against the wall next to the stairs, his gaze lowered to the ground while he shrugged.

Maria sighed. “I don’t wanna go back to where we were in Florida, do you want that Andy?” she asked, her tone stern.

He shook his head slightly. No, he didn’t want that either. He hadn’t been running away like he used to back home.

“Just because we had a disagreement doesn’t mean there are no rules anymore. I expect you to follow those few rules you have no matter what,” she continued, trying to control the urge to let all of her anger free. “Do you understand me?”

“I was just at Sam’s house, okay? I didn’t want to talk to you,” he snapped. Okay, after that he had been in the park alone for a while, but she didn’t need to know that.

“No, not okay, Andy! If you don’t wanna talk to me… fine! But you can do that at home.”

The boy stayed quiet at his mother’s harsh tone. Somehow her yelling at him felt good, it showed that she was aware of what he was doing. She cared about him.

“You can go now,” she told him and nodded up the stairs. She knew that talking to him about Michael again wasn’t a good idea right now. She probably had to wait for a different, calmer moment again.

Andy didn’t need to be told twice. He took the steps two at a time to get to his room quickly.

*****

Liz sat down on the thankfully comfortable chair in the examining room after getting dressed once more. She hated the yearly exam but endured it out of necessity. She had been feeling rundown lately, she thought as she rubbed one hand over her face tiredly. Things had been stressful at home, but even with that she should’ve still been able to keep up with everything better than she had been.

She looked up when Dr. Linda Martinez stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. She had been with the same gynecologist since her first visit back in high school and they had long ago done away with formality when speaking to each other.

“Earlier you said you’d been feeling tired lately,” the woman said as she sat down across from Liz. “I know things at home have been stressful for a while.”

“Yeah, but Max and I talked just this past weekend and we’re both trying to get things back on track.” She shrugged one shoulder. “That should cut down on some of the stress.”

She smiled sympathetically and shook her head. “Liz, I want a major reduction in the stress at home, at work… anywhere you encounter stress.”

“We’re working on it, Linda.”

“Undue stress could be detrimental to – “

Liz’ eyes widened. “Detrimental? But, it’s not that bad!”

“You’ve been tired lately, feeling rundown, and probably haven’t noticed a skipped period or you’ve either shrugged it off as stress-related.” She paused a moment and when she saw the light dawn in her patient’s eyes she nodded. “You’re pregnant, Liz. I’d say about seven weeks along.”

Earth2Mama: You did know it, lol. We’ll get some answers to at least some of your questions in this next update.

Alex is trying hard to keep his cool. Not an easy thing for him to do, especially when there’s no one there to balance things out.

Andy does give us reason to worry at times… some more than others. Andy isn’t in a place yet to see that.

Well, she decided it was time… we just went along for the ride to document everything.

begonia9508: Thanks!

No one ever wants to accept that about their parents, lol. It’s just damaging. It’s the old double standard, but eventually he’s going to have to deal with it.

How Max will react… we’ll find out eventually.

keepsmiling7: Justin’s a good kid and very sensitive to what’s going on between his parents. Poor guy has no idea if he was asked or if he was told he was going to the dance.

Alex has his hands full and the poor guy really needs a woman there to take some of that pressure off and help him handle things more calmly.

That’ll definitely be a surprise.

Natalie36: Well, it might cause some stress…

sarammlover: Maria is getting there. Alex is handling things a little better. The talk with Isabel helped to calm him down so he could be more rational when talking to Sam again.

Four kids, a cat and a dog… that’s a full house right there, lol.

Cardinal: A work in progress, lol.

Oh, Max definitely won’t see this one coming.

Yeah, we’re inclined to agree with you. Alex is soo getting ready to just hang on and keep Isabel’s number handy.

Alien_Friend: Definitely a shock when it’s unexpected.

There’s something to be said for having a relationship that’s open enough that a kid can approach the parent about anything. That’s a big one and honestly, how many of us would ever feel comfortable approaching our dads on that subject? *shudders*

Andy is a handful, but she is slowly getting through to him.

We’ll see what happens there.

mary mary: Lol, that’s what they need, huh? It’ll be interesting to say the least.

Lol, well… we’ll see about that Ferris wheel. So far, they’re not all lining up to buy a ticket. Kids are always awesome when they belong to someone else.

angiebrenna: Ain’t that the truth? The pregnancy… should be interesting.

Rodney: Lol, that’s a very nice way of putting it.

Liz may have her reservations and she may worry about the boys getting hurt in their road to becoming men, but she really does try to support them in whatever they’re doing.

Well, it’s rare for us to have them all on the same track at the same time.




Part 69

“Pregnant,” she whispered as her hand settled over her abdomen protectively. She had wanted another baby for so long. Right behind the feeling of excitement reality came crashing in and she shook her head. “No, I can’t be pregnant, Linda. Oh, my God, we’re not ready for this, not now.”

“Honey, pregnancies rarely happen when we’re ready for them. I won’t know until the pregnancy progresses how well your body’s gonna handle it this time around, but I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding stress right now, Liz. You had a very rough time with the twins and with that history we want to avoid repeating it if possible.”

“Do you think I can carry the pregnancy to term?”

“At this point I’m not ruling anything out. We want to get your stress level under control, but otherwise, you’re in excellent health. We were never able to determine the cause for the problematic pregnancy the last time but we’ll be monitoring you very closely for any changes. If you decide that you don’t want to risk it, we still have a window of opportunity for an early termination.”

Liz shook her head. “You know me, Linda, and for me that’s not an option.”

The doctor smiled. “I know, but I’m obligated to make sure you’re informed of all of your options. I’ll have Denise set you up with weekly appointments for now so that we can keep a close eye on you and the baby, make sure things are progressing as they should and that you both stay healthy.”

Liz bit her bottom lip. How am I gonna tell Max? She knew how close it had been the last time, knew that it was a miracle she and the boys had survived the pregnancy. She had a bad feeling that Max wasn’t gonna handle the news well. He had been adamant that if they had more children it would be through the process of adoption because he had refused to put her through that again. Even when she had so desperately wanted another baby she hadn’t been able to persuade him to see things from her side. His arguments had been valid, she couldn’t argue that point; there had been no guarantee that she would be able to carry another pregnancy to term and the risk to her had been considered high at the time too. But even later, when the risk was felt to be significantly lower she hadn’t been able to change his mind.

She didn’t want to make her husband a widower or leave her children without a mother. Her hand rubbed over her still-flat belly as a soft smile lit up her features. We’re having a baby!

“You’re concerned about how Max will handle the news?”

“He’s just got so much he’s trying to deal with right now.”

Linda nodded. The couple had been to her office several times the first few years after the twins had turned four and at Liz’ request she had explained that even though the pregnancy with the boys had been difficult and risky it didn’t prevent them from trying to have another baby. Max had denied that option outright and she had seen the terror in the man’s eyes at the thought of his wife going through that again.

“Would you like to have him come in to the office with you, let me talk to him?”

“I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think he’d take the news any better from you, Linda. Besides, he’s outta town on business right now.” She smiled. “Our anniversary’s this Friday and he’s got something planned for us. I’ll tell him then.”

Sitting in the car after leaving the office Liz stared at the prescription for prenatal vitamins she held in her right hand. This was so drastically different from the first time she had found out she was pregnant. She could still remember the feeling of excitement and happiness that had hit her the moment Linda had told her she was pregnant. She had barely been able to stop herself from grabbing the phone and calling Max, but she hadn’t wanted to tell him over the phone. She had practically floated through the rest of the day, feeling so giddy it was ridiculous.

At the time he had been putting in crazy hours at work and most nights he was doing good if he made it home before 9pm. He had come home at almost 9:30pm that night, exhausted and covered in grease and grime from the shop. His face had lit up with a big smile when he’d seen her waiting up for him.

Max had felt the exhaustion leave his body when he stepped through the front door and saw Liz sitting on the couch waiting for him. Most of her classes started early so she was usually in bed or at the table buried under a mountain of homework when he got home. He had smiled when she crooked her finger and he had obeyed the directive, going to her and leaning over the back of the couch for a kiss.

“No studyin’ tonight an’ you’re not already in bed? What’s the occasion?” he murmured against her lips.

“I wanted to have dinner with my husband.” Her fingertips rubbed at a smudge of grease on his shadowed jaw.

His eyes had traced over her features and he gave her a slightly confused smile. “Not that I’m complainin’, but you’re gonna be exhausted for class in the mornin’.”

“I was thinking about takin’ tomorrow off.” Her finger trailed down over his throat to play with the collar of his shirt. “Any chance you could call in?”

He bit his lip. It was tempting, but they were pushing to get their first shop opened in the next year. “I don’t know… lemme run grab a quick shower an’ I’ll see if I can think up a good enough reason.”

“Okay, I’ll get dinner warmed up.” She stretched up to give him another kiss. “Hurry up.” As soon as she’d heard the shower come on she had hurried to reheat dinner and put it on the table. They had talked about having children and they didn’t want to wait long to get started on their family, but they hadn’t expected it to happen quite so soon either.

When he joined her a short while later, dressed in an old pair of jeans and a tee shirt she had made herself comfortable in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Max…”

“Um-hmm,” he mumbled as he reached around her to snag a bite of the pot roast on his plate.

“We’ve talked about having kids before…”

“Yep, gonna have a houseful of ‘em one day.” He scooped up a forkful of mashed potatoes and gravy and another bite of roast. “This’s really good, darlin’.”

“Thanks,” she smiled. “Well, what if one day was sooner?”

He smiled and kissed her. “Before we get the business up an’ runnin’ and you start teachin’? I thought we decided to get things a little more settled first?” He bit into the soft dinner roll and hummed happily. “You really outdid yourself with this meal.” He pointed at her untouched plate with his fork. “How come you’re not eatin’?”

“Max, I had an appointment today.”

He thought for a moment before nodding. “Yep, I remember… the um… the woman doc, right?”

She laughed quietly and brushed her fingers over the tips of his ears when they turned red. “Yeah, and she kinda found a little something.”

His fork paused halfway to his mouth as he turned his head to stare at her. “She found… are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, Max. She said it was the kind of thing that usually clears up in about nine months…” she bit her lip as she met his gaze.

His fork had clattered against his plate noisily as his mouth dropped open. “No way!” His right hand settled over her belly and his gaze locked with hers. “Really? We’re gonna have a baby?” He kissed her and scooped her up in his arms as he jumped up and swung her around. “Liz, that’s great news, darlin’!”

She had gripped his shoulders tightly, laughing at his antics. “You’re sure?”

He snorted and shook his head. “It’ll be a little crazy tryin’ to get things started with a baby on the way but who cares?” He stopped in the middle of the room and met her gaze as he sobered, but the softest of smiles was still on his lips. “I love you. We’ll make it work.”

She sighed and dropped her head back against the headrest. Was there any chance at all that Max would be happy about it this time around? The timing wasn’t the greatest, but it was a little better than if it had happened a few months ago. She shook her head as she sat up and reached for the keys dangling from the ignition. He would’ve had a hard time with this news before this but now? He wouldn’t be able to be happy about it.

She stared at her wedding rings for a moment before she dug around in her purse to pull her cell phone out. Her vision was blurring from the tears in her eyes as she dialed a number and waited for an answer. She desperately needed someone to talk to about this.

*****

Maria crossed the street from the park and stepped up on the sidewalk, walking up to the front gate and pausing when she heard the loud music coming from the house. She didn’t know the name of the group but she recognized the noise as something Andy listened to. No wonder he’s so popular with the kids, she thought with a shake of her head. He had said he didn’t much care for Andy’s music choices, but the noise pouring out of his house would suggest otherwise.

She lifted the latch on the gate and entered the yard, making her way up to the front porch to ring the doorbell. She rolled her eyes when he didn’t answer the door, wondering if he would hear her knocking on the door if he hadn’t heard the doorbell. She used the side of her fist to beat against the door and she took a step back to stare at the front of the house.

She hadn’t intended to come over but she had let her doubts get the best of her and now she was worried that she was moving too soon. She had decided that she would stop by his house and thank him for the invitation, and then tell him that she had changed her mind. She jumped back involuntarily when the door was suddenly pulled open and her eyes glanced over the much younger blonde woman standing there.

Her mouth opened and closed several times as she tried to formulate a sentence. She had spent most of the day at his house on Saturday and she had seen nothing that would indicate that a woman lived with him. And she was sure that Kyle would have mentioned it. Although maybe she was just an overnight guest, she mused. He was an attractive man and it went without question that the man had needs that were probably being met in some way.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked after a couple of minutes.

Maria shook herself out of her stupor. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “Um, do you… live here?” She was trying not to be obvious as her gaze raked over the younger woman – much younger, her mind supplied helpfully. She felt a little more confident about her decision to tell him that she had thought about it and didn’t think they should see each other unless it somehow involved Andy.

The sleepy-looking blonde ran her hand through her mussed up just-got-out-of bed hair and squinted against the late afternoon sun before shaking her head. “Are you kiddin’?” she asked with an ironic laugh. “Mikey couldn’t handle me 24/7.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder. “Are you here to see him?”

Maria nodded uncomfortably. “Yeah, but – “

“He’s not home right now, but you can come in and wait for him if ya want.”

“Oh, no, that’s alright.” Maria started to back down the steps and out of the yard.

“You wanna leave your name or somethin’? I can tell him you came by.”

“No, no, that’s not necessary. I’ll just catch up with him later.”

“Okay.” She shrugged and opened the door to go back inside. She patted the large dog when he pressed his nose against the screen door. “C’mon, Mojo, let’s get something to eat.”

*****

Andy was waiting for Sam when the final bell sounded, leaning against the outside wall by the doors where he knew she would exit. His right foot was braced on the wall and he kept his expression neutral, ignoring everyone that passed him as the students rushed through the doors to freedom. He knew she would take her time and get her things together since she preferred to avoid the rush and pushing and shoving that went with the mass exodus.

He glanced to his right when the crowd thinned out to a trickle and after a few more minutes the door was pushed open once more and he saw her walk outside, backpack hooked over her left shoulder. He didn’t know if she saw him and was ignoring him or if she had just missed him standing there when she started walking down the steps.

“Hey, Sam,” he called, hurrying to catch up with her.

“What’re you doin’ here? I figured you’d cut class since I didn’t see you earlier.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe. Just wasn’t really in the mood for that class today.”

“Yeah, well, whaddaya want?”

“Wanna get outta here for a while?”

“Well, school’s finished so I usually get outta here,” she told him, not sure what he meant and since her heart sped up as soon as he approached her, she wasn’t thinking all that clear. The day had been pure torture since she didn’t know where they were at this point. He had made no attempted to kiss her but well, they hadn’t been alone yet today.

“Right... well... um, wanna get away from here for a while?”

“Sure,” she agreed. God, since when had it become so awkward between them?

“Okay. Um, over at the park there’s a place that’s kinda private. I mean, if you wanna just hang out without anyone else around.” Moron, how lame is that?

“Lead the way then,” she told him. She would have to send Dad a message, but she could do that from there.

Thankfully the walk to the park didn’t take that long. One good thing about small towns, he mused. While out on one of his walks he had discovered the quiet spot behind the small bridge that crossed the river that ran through the park. It was surrounded by tall reeds but at the center the soft grass was cropped low. He brushed the reeds back and motioned for her to enter the enclosed area.

Sam took his offer and placed her backpack aside before she sat down on the ground. “You found a cool place here.”

He nodded. “Yeah, it’s a good place to think... no one bothers me here.”

“Uh-huh, I wouldn’t count on that,” she teased. “I know about this place now.”

He smirked softly. “Plannin’ to bother me?”

“Hmm, don’t know yet.”

He stared at her for a few moments. “So... um, how’d things go with your dad after I left?” He didn’t really wanna talk, but girls liked that sorta thing, right? He sat down close to her and waited to see if she might wanna do something more.

Sam cursed inwardly when he sat down next to her instead of behind her like he had done last night. Was he trying to get outta this again since her Dad had acted up so much? “Well, we screamed at each other but later we talked again and I was able to calm him down.”

“You were able to calm him down,” he mused. “Uh-huh, he seemed so reasonable before.”

She smirked. “Yeah, well, he wasn’t prepared for this, I guess.”

“Guess not.” He shifted and pulled his right leg up at the knee. “Things were goin’ kinda good before he came out...”

“Yeah,” she shivered at the thought of it.

“So maybe we should... ya know... give it another try.”

She looked at him intensely. God, was it just her or did he actually look better and better with each passing day?

Andy mentally kicked himself for not sitting behind her and he shifted to remedy that. He rolled his eyes when he ended up kicking her instead. “Sorry,” he muttered. He pressed his hands on the ground to give himself better leverage so that he could settle behind her and he sighed in relief when he managed it without damaging her any further.

“No problem,” she told him, trying to relax but it wasn’t really possible since her whole body awaited a touch or anything from him.

His right hand moved to her thigh and he hoped he wasn’t about to get smacked. He could feel his heart pounding and he wondered if she could feel it too. He nuzzled her neck, inhaling her scent and wondering how it was possible for her to smell so good. He wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled and he gave her skin an experimental lick.

Sam was surprised by his action, which was kinda sexy but also tender. Damn, that really felt good, she thought and automatically bent her head to the side to give him better access.

Whew, so that was okay, he thought, relieved. He brushed her hair aside and kissed his way up to her ear, giving her earlobe a gentle nip.

Sam felt the goosebumps on her skin and was pretty sure Andy could see and feel them under his lips as well.

His lips brushed over her skin, excited by her reaction to his touch. He wrapped his arms around her and he froze for a moment when his right hand grazed her breast. Did he dare? Maybe it was too soon. What if he did it wrong?

Sam felt his touch and had to suck in a deep breath when his arms came around her, his hands moving over her stomach and then higher, though it felt like it was a touch more by accident than anything planned. She placed her hands over his, letting him know that touching her belly was okay, any higher or lower just felt too soon yet.

Andy was actually kind of relieved. As much as he wanted more he wasn’t really sure he was ready for it. His fingertips trailed over her stomach, swallowing hard when he felt the hem of her tee shirt and he let just his little finger trail over her exposed skin. He shifted behind her and caught her chin with one hand, urging her head to the side so he could kiss her properly.

Sam let him guide her. It felt good when he took control of things without it putting any demands on her. She used her hands on his strong thighs to push herself up a little, just enough to kiss him without stretching her neck too much.

His lips brushed over hers tentatively for a few moments before he let the tip of his tongue trace over her lips. Would she let him kiss her like that again?

She parted her lips slightly when she felt his touch, leaving it up to him what he wanted to do. Her arms started to tremble and she had to sink down fully again. But she didn’t want to break the kiss, so she used one of her hands to run it up to the back of his neck, bringing him down a little bit more.

Andy’s hand settled over the bare skin at her side as he kissed her. His lungs felt like they were on fire and he didn’t want to be the one to end the kiss but he finally had to break it. “Sorry,” he whispered raggedly.

She smiled and relaxed a bit. “You don’t have to be.”

“Just kinda... ya know...” he blushed slightly.

“Well, sometimes you need to breathe,” she teased.

“Yeah, that,” he laughed.

Sam rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes to enjoy the warm sun on her face.

Andy wondered what she was thinking about and he sighed when his thumb inched a little higher and she pushed his hand down again.

While her eyes were closed she tried to come up with a plan how to ask the question she needed an answer to. Kissing him and being with him felt good, but what if it was just a random thing for him? “Hey, Andy, can I ask you something?” she started, keeping her eyes close since she didn’t feel brave enough to look at him yet.

He shrugged. “Sure.”

“What is this between us?”

“Uh...” What’d she mean? “We were makin’ out…”

“Yeah,” she rolled her eyes behind her closed lids. “I meant it more generally.”

“Well, um... I think we both liked it.” Where was she going with these questions?

God, he wasn’t making it easy, was he? “And where does that lead us?”

To sex, he thought hopefully but thankfully didn’t actually voice. “Um... where do you want it to lead?” he asked carefully.

“Well,” she sat up a little and finally looked at him since it was ridiculous to not look at each other while talking about stuff like this. “I can only speak for myself, Andy.” And I really hope you think the same way, she added in her thoughts. “But I’m not the type of girl who makes out with someone just randomly.”

“Okay... well, me neither.” Well, okay, honestly, he hadn’t been serious about Darren Scott’s sister last summer, but that had kinda been something he hadn’t even been expecting.

“So we’re...”

“We’re... um...” What did she want him to say? He just knew if he got it wrong they weren’t gonna be making out anymore.

“...together?” she says uncertainly, holding her breath in anticipation of his answer.

“Okay, well, yeah, I thought that was kinda obvious.” He mentally kicked himself for that remark. He’d be lucky if she didn’t kick his ass for that one. “No,” he said quickly, “what I meant was, I think we’re together, but...”

Okay, she had been happy until his ‘but’. “But...?”

“Um... I’m just thinkin’ about Justin, ya know? I kinda think he likes you an’ us bein’ together might be a problem for him.”

“You think so?” She had wondered about that as well, but since her talk with Justin the day they had gone train hopping she had thought he would understand.

He snorted. “Duh. I mean, things at home suck for him right now an’ you’re like his best friend an’ maybe he wants more than that so I was thinkin’ maybe we could just kinda... ya know, keep this between us for now?”

She didn’t know what to think about that. Was it really just Justin that bothered him or was it being seen with her in public?

He bit his bottom lip when she gave him a look he couldn’t decipher. “It’s just that things kinda suck a lot for him right now an’ I don’t wanna make it worse by rubbin’ it in if he does really like you like that.”

“Okay,” she said quietly, not really sure what to think about it. But what if he was right and Justin would really have something against them?

“Did I say somethin’ wrong?” he asked uncertainly.

“No,” she sighed. “Maybe I could talk to Justin?”

“I don’t know... you think he’d be okay with that?”

She shrugged. “What’s the other option? Playing the hiding game forever?” She sure as hell didn’t want that. Did he? She was a teenage girl and dating one of the best looking boys in high school. Of course she wanted to show off to the others.

“No, no, I don’t wanna do that.” Okay, he wasn’t like the big man on campus or anything but he wouldn’t mind people knowing he had a hot girlfriend.

She smiled a little. “Okay, good.”

“Okay.”

She made a mental note to talk to Justin soon. Hiding wasn’t a solution and if she really wanted to be with Andy she had to make sure Justin was okay first.

“So... you don’t need me to talk to him too, right?”

“No, I think I’ll do that alone.”

He nodded, relieved. It was hard enough to talk about this stuff with her. He had no idea what he’d have said to Justin if she’d said yes.

She relaxed again and rested her back against him. Now that this was talked out it felt much better and she could enjoy the sunny day again... added to the fact that she was in Andy’s arms.

Andy’s arms tightened fractionally as she settled back against him again. He had no idea why girls had to talk everything to death. All of that to figure out they were together when it was pretty obvious.

*****

Michael gathered his things together, packing everything up so he could cut out of work a little bit early. He still had to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. He grabbed his briefcase, laptop, and keys, and made his way out to the faculty parking lot. He was unlocking his door when he glanced up and saw Maria walking towards him and he smiled at her.

As she neared him he could see that her smile was forced and he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Maria?”

“I’ve been thinking, Michael, and – “

“Oh, hell,” he muttered, silencing her for a moment.

Her head snapped up and she stared at him. “What?”

“Anytime a woman starts a conversation with those three words – I’ve been thinking – it’s never a good sign.” He motioned for her to continue. “Go ahead, hit me with it.”

“I… I don’t think we should see each other. I think this was a mistake.”

“Comin’ here? Or us havin’ dinner together?” he asked to clarify, though he already knew the answer.

“Dinner. It’s just not a good idea.”

He felt annoyance building within him but he forced himself to contain it. “Why?” he asked.

“I just… it’s not… It doesn’t matter, Mr. Guerin,” she said, using his last name in an effort to put distance between them.

His annoyance quickly gave way to disappointment at the realization that she was being held back by her fears and her past. “Maria, we can work past all this if you’ll just give it a chance,” he said, unable to stop himself from pushing.

“No, I can’t… I won’t do this.”

“Do what?” he asked, exasperated. “It’s just dinner!”

She looked at him, her eyes sad. “It wouldn’t be just dinner, would it, Mikey? You’re good, I’ll give you that; I really believed you when you said we could just relax, take a break from all of the teenage drama going on at home, and enjoy some adult conversation over dinner.”

Michael was completely confused and he shook his head as he tossed his stuff into his car. “What’re you goin’ on about?”

“I know what this is all about – “

“What this is all about?” he repeated incredulously. “First, I’ve never led you on about my interest in you, and second, I didn’t lie to you about my intentions for tonight. So, what’s suddenly got you changin’ your mind?”

“You’re an intelligent man, Mikey, figure it out.” She held her hand up when he opened his mouth to protest. “I think it’s best for everyone concerned if we just leave things as they are.”

She was gone before he could respond.

Earth2Mama: Nah, not to an end… it’s just an obstacle.

Nope, Michael’s never mentioned having a sister. He has no reason to connect Maria to the girl at his house and we’ll find out why in this next update.

Well, we’ll find out about Max’s reaction in time… yes, you probably already knew that was coming, right?

Natalie36: Yup, didn’t take long, did it?

keepsmiling7: It is a difficult situation, but they’ll get through it.

Think this might be the thing, huh? Well, we’ll see.

They’re looking forward to that too.

Alien_Friend: Nope, but it happens all too often, doesn’t it? Who that girl was will be answered in this next update. They’ll get through this.

Liz just doesn’t want to tell him this news over the phone. He’s still dealing with losing Andrew and just beginning to see some forward movement there, so she wants to make sure he’s there in person when she tells him.

Lol, well, maybe Andy will avoid some of these misunderstandings as he gets older.

mary mary: It’s true and we can’t deny it.

begonia9508: Thanks!

Yeah, to be kids again just experiencing things for the first time.

Lol, we’ll see if Max follows your advice.

Oh, it’s hard to say, but Maria will eventually clue us in.

sarammlover: **authors ducking**

Lol, well… what if we tell you that we’re gonna give y’all an explanation for that girl at Michael’s house?

Eva: She is jealous, lol, and jealousy can make us act and say some pretty stupid things.

Teenage boys… some things are just universal, lol.

killjoy: Yeah, lol, we’re glad you amended that to make it “all men in general”. It’s all about priorities.

**sigh** Things will straighten up… eventually.



Part 70

Michael made the drive home on autopilot. Disappointment, irritation, annoyance, and several other emotions were running around in his confused mind. When she had first approached him he had thought that she was just dealing with a case of nerves – and he had been expecting that – but her words would suggest that it was something else altogether. And what was up with her calling him Mikey?

Things suddenly became clearer when he pulled into his driveway and he heard the noise coming from the stereo in his house. He sat in his car for a minute before leaning forward and dropping his head to rest on his hands where they were clenching the steering wheel. He sighed loudly as he shook his head.

After several minutes he grabbed his things and went inside, ignoring the obnoxious noise pouring from his speakers. He walked into the kitchen and dropped everything on the counter as he looked at the young woman sitting at the table eating cereal and wearing his jersey. She jumped up and ran across the room to hug him and he gave her a big bear hug before letting her go.

“I don’t remember getting a call about you visiting,” he said.

“Since when do I have to call first?” she pouted.

He didn’t bother answering because she already knew the answer. “I didn’t happen to have a visitor today, did I?”

“Hmmm… blonde? Green eyes? Kinda looks like she’s carrying the world around on her shoulders?”

He sighed. As he had suspected, Maria had been to his house. “That would be the one.”

She went back to her seat, pulling her legs up and resting her heels on the edge of her chair. The jersey rode up revealing a pair of shorts that weren’t noticeable when she was standing up and he winced when he realized what had to have gone through Maria’s mind when the two women saw each other. “Um-hmm. She didn’t wanna leave a message or wait for you or anything.” She picked up the box of cereal, shaking it to get his attention. “Want some Fruity Pebbles?”

He ignored her question. “Did you answer the door lookin’ that that?” he asked, motioning at her.

She looked down at herself. “Yeah? So?”

He growled under his breath. “Damn it, Chrissie.” He rubbed his eyes as he tried to figure out how to fix this mess and he shook his head when he saw the hurt on her face at his reaction. “No, no, it’s not you,” he assured her.

After the death of their parents Chrissie had been placed with a family while he had been stuck in a group home because no one wanted a 15-year-old kid. She had been three years old and cute as a button so placing her hadn’t been a problem, but the family hadn’t been interested in taking him on too. Separated from his only living relative Michael had become angry, difficult, and rebellious. He hadn’t wanted to be given to some other family, expected to just act as if he belonged with them, so he had gotten into trouble every chance he got. Each time it resulted in him being turned back over to his case worker and the woman had finally labeled him as unable to adapt and he had been placed in the group home where he was supposed to stay until he was 18.

He had tried to get information about his sister from his case worker but the woman had only told him that it would be too confusing for Chrissie to see him. He had broken into her office and tried to find the information himself but her file system had been impossible to make heads or tails of. He had been caught and had spent a night in jail but it had only made him more determined to find his sister.

In the tenth grade he had been forced to meet with a counselor and he had hated the man on sight. He had done his best to make the man decide he wasn’t worth the hassle but Chuck Wilson hadn’t seemed to understand that he was supposed to give up on him like everyone else had. For months he had fought the man, tried to piss him off, and failed time after time. Summer had given him a reprieve from the man’s prying questions and he had expected to be free of him, but the following school year had found him in the man’s office once more. It had been near the end of his junior year when Chuck had asked him a question that had gotten his attention.

“Do you want to lose any chance you have of ever finding your sister?” he asked patiently. He had been watching the hostile teenager pacing back and forth, angry over once again being told that his sister was better off without him.

“What the fuck does it matter? They’re never gonna tell me where she is!” Michael had screamed at the man.

“What do you want, Michael?”

The boy had stopped and turned to look at the man. “Why do you care?”

Chuck ran a hand over his rapidly balding head and he chuckled quietly. “Tell me what you want.”

“I wanna know why they took my sister!”

“Is that what you wanna know? Or do you wanna know why they didn’t take you too?”

Michael shrugged carelessly. “I don’t care. I didn’t wanna live with them anyway. And neither did Chrissie. Our parents died and those people just took her away from me. I’m all the family she has left and she was cryin’ for me and they took her away!” he shouted. “They should’ve left her with me. I would’ve taken care of her.”

“How?”

“What?”

“How would you have taken care of her, Michael? You were 15 years old, a freshman in high school, and you weren’t old enough to hold down a full-time job.” He paused a moment. “For almost three years now you’ve done everything in your power to be a troublemaker. Do you think the system would look on you as a favorable guardian for your considerably younger sister?”

Michael shrugged and leaned his forehead against the window. “They could’ve at least let me see her.”

Chuck scribbled notes down on a notepad and after several minutes he looked at Michael. “How invested are you in obtaining custody of your sister?”

The boy had slowly turned to look at him, his eyes suspicious. “Don’t jerk me around, man. No one’s gonna give me custody of Chrissie.”

“No, not like this they aren’t,” Chuck agreed. “You’re not trying in school. You do just enough to get by. And outside of school all you do is get into trouble… would you give someone with that record custody of a five-year-old?”

Michael scuffed the toe of his shoe across the old carpet on the floor. “No,” he said finally.

“No. Michael, listen to me, boy. Getting custody of your sister is not a lost cause. It’s possible, but only if you’re gonna straighten your act up and make some changes.”

The teenager had been scared to believe the man but Chuck had never lied to him. He had been straight with him from day one and he respected him for that. He had edged closer to Chuck’s desk and after several minutes he had dropped down into the chair.
“You bein’ square with me?”

“Scout’s honor,” the man said, holding his hand up.

“So, what do I gotta do?”

Chuck had helped him straighten up, find a good job, and somehow gotten him visitation rights so he could see his sister. At 19, when he had petitioned the court for custody of his sister, Chuck had stood up for him as a witness to his character and his ability to care for his seven-year-old sister.

He hadn’t had many opportunities to cut loose in college but there had been a few times when Chuck and his wife had kept Chrissie for him and given him a chance to act his age. Drinking too much and acting like a fool had been limited to a handful of times but he didn’t have any regrets about that.

“Michael?”

He blinked when his sister called him, her impatient tone indicating that it wasn’t the first time she had called him. “What’s up, Chrissie?”

“Who’s the woman?” she asked curiously.

“Her name’s Maria and we were supposed to be havin’ dinner tonight.”

She cocked her head to the side, noticing the way he said the woman’s name and the disappointment at his ruined plans. “You like her,” she guessed and then shook her head. “No, it’s more than that, isn’t it? Oh, I’m sorry, Mikey. I could go over to her house and apologize… explain?”

He shook his head. “No, it’s alright, kid. This isn’t your fault. I’ll try to talk to her in a little while.” He walked over to the table and picked up the box of cereal, closing it up and putting it away. “You wanna tell me what you’re doin’ here?”

“Can’t I just come see my big brother for no reason?”

“You could but I don’t believe you did. You just started classes again a couple months ago and last time we talked you were startin’ a new job.”

She shrugged and dragged her spoon through the milk in her bowl. “That job sucked.”

“What was wrong with this one?” He started pulling out things to make dinner, keeping an eye on her. “Chrissie.”

“My boyfriend broke up with me,” she blurted out.

Michael crouched down next to her chair and pulled her into his arms. “C’mon, it’ll be okay,” he whispered, rubbing her back when she started to cry.

“He said he didn’t feel like I would fit in with his world,” she choked out after a few minutes. “Like he was some big Hollywood actor or something. He gets one part in a local commercial and suddenly he thinks he’s the hottest thing out there.”

“What about your job?” he asked.

“My boss wouldn’t let me have time off to come see you so I quit. You said when you moved that I could come with you, Mikey.”

“As I recall at the time you had nothin’ flattering to say about small town life and that was before classes started up again.”

She wiped her eyes and sniffled as she leaned back to look at him. “So I’ve changed my mind.” She shrugged. “Can I stay with you?”

He kissed the top of her head as he released her and stood up. He was tempted to say yes because there was a part of him that missed having her underfoot but he knew she needed to be out on her own. “No. You can hang around for a few days but then you’re goin’ back to school. It won’t be that much longer before you can come home for the holidays if you want to, but you’re not gonna throw your education away over some guy.”

She made a face at him. “You’re such a hardass, Michael.”

He smirked as he went back to making dinner. She only called him Michael when she knew she wasn’t going to get her way with him. “I know, and one day you’ll thank me for it.”

“Whatever. Tell me about Maria.” She lifted one eyebrow at the smile that suddenly appeared on his face and she sat up straighter as she listened to him talk about the woman he was interested in. He was still talking when dinner was ready and she made him promise that he would introduce them before she went back to school.

*****

Maria brushed off the dirt on her jeans when the ringing of the bell announced Liz’ arrival. She wasn’t really sure what her friend wanted to talk about, but she had sounded pretty upset on the phone. Whatever it is, it’ll distract me from my own thoughts, she told herself and walked over to answer the door. “Hey, Lizzie,” she greeted her friend when she saw her, but the slight smile on her face faded when she noticed the tears in the other woman’s eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

Liz tried to speak but not a sound escaped her mouth.

“Come in,” Maria took her hand gently and led her inside to the couch in the center of the living room. “Can I get you something? I only have water here, but it’s something.”

“No thanks,” Liz croaked out and wiped her hands over her face.

“Okay,” Maria sat down next to her. “Tell me what’s going on.”

Liz twisted her hands nervously in her lap as she tried to get the words to come out. “Max won’t be home until Friday but I couldn’t wait until then to talk to someone...” She swallowed hard, feeling the tears threatening again. “I just... I don’t know what to do, Maria.”

The other woman wrapped one arm around her and brought her closer. “About what, Liz?”

“Max is gonna flip out... I can already see it. And we’re tryin’ to work things out but we’re just not ready for this. I don’t even know how I can tell him,” she babbled.

Maria frowned, trying to make sense with what Liz was telling her. What could her friend have done that would upset Max?

“It was so difficult the first time around but at that time things were different. Now... now, it’s too soon after Andrew. That’s all he’s gonna be able to focus on, he won’t see the good in it. I know how hard it is on him but what if he doesn’t want the baby? What if it just pushes us further apart?”

“You’re pregnant?” Maria asked, surprised.

Liz released a surprised breath. “Didn’t I mention that?”

“Uh, no.”

“Oh.” She was silent for a moment. “Well... I am.”

“Oh, wow,” Maria stuttered, not knowing what to say. “Congratulations I guess,” she said and hugged her friend to take some of the pressure from her.

“I’ve wanted this for so long, Maria, but... God, why now?”

“Well, it’s probably not the best timing, Liz, but I’m sure Max won’t be mad.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” She brushed her hand over her eyes. “Maria, he was terrified of losing me after the scare we had with the first pregnancy.”

“Did the doc say that it’ll be the same this time?”

“Well, no, but... Maria, we had no way of knowin’ it would be the same years ago. I wanted to try again and I waited until the boys turned four before I started talking to Max about it seriously. Hell, I even had Linda talk to him, but... I couldn’t change his mind.”

“Maybe the fact that you ARE pregnant now will let him see it from a different angle.”

“Do you think so?” Liz asked hopefully.

“Yeah, it’s always difference if you’re talking about an IF situation rather than an actual situation.”

“I’m just scared he’s only gonna see the negative factors. I mean... he was so happy the first time. I want him to be happy about this.”

“He will be Liz. He might need some time at first, but he’s your husband and he loves you no matter what.”

“Yeah, and God knows I don’t doubt that. But his fear... I know it’s a risk, but I want it so badly. And I want him to want it too.”

“He’ll want it, girl.”

“I hope you’re right.” Her hands rested over her belly as a soft smile lit up her features. “We’re gonna have a baby, Maria.”

The blonde rested one hand over Liz’ and smiled at her encouragingly, hiding her own hurt. “Yeah, a cute new Evans kid.”

“Thank you, Maria,” she whispered as she threw her arms around her friend’s neck. “I needed someone to be happy about this.”

“Welcome,” the other woman mumbled, hiding her face in the space between Liz’ shoulder and neck when she felt some own tears well up. Party because she was really happy for Liz, partly because she was struggling not to be envious of her friend right now.

“What’s the matter, Maria?” Liz asked, suddenly conscious that something was wrong with the other woman.

“Huh? No, nothing, just surprised.”

“Oh, don’t even try that with me, girl.” She shook her head. “C’mon, what’s goin’ on?”

Maria sighed. “I don’t wanna stress you out with my mess.”

“Please, take my mind off of my own problems!”

“Well, if you insist,” she said, smiling a little. “I told Andy about my feelings for Michael.”

“Oh, Maria,” she said, seeing the pain in the other woman’s eyes. “He didn’t take it well?”

“No,” she croaked out, shaking her head.

“What’re you gonna do?”

“I don’t know. What should I do?”

“What do you wanna do?” Liz countered.

Maria rested her elbows on her thighs and hid her face in her hands. “I’m afraid that what I want and what I should do are different.”

“Okay... what do you think you should do?”

“Stay away from Michael. At least for now.”

“So, what you want to do is just the opposite?”

Maria glanced at her friend and nodded slowly. Yeah, she wanted to be with Michael. She couldn’t think of anything else all day. It wasn’t even the physical part she was craving. She wanted to talk to someone in the evenings when the day slowed down, she wanted to warm her feet on cold nights, she wanted to make coffee for someone in the mornings beside herself.

“Is it safe to assume that Andy’s reaction was really bad?”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“When did you tell him?”

“Yesterday evening.”

“Have you guys talked since then?”

“Besides the few grumbled words when I got home last night from visiting Tess and Kyle? Nope, this morning when I got up to make breakfast he just hurried out of the house and all I heard was the slamming door.”

“What about Michael? Have you talked to him?”

Maria laughed ironically. “I tried, but guess what? When I walked up to his house earlier to tell him about Andy’s reaction who do you think opened his door? Some blonde girl who couldn’t be older than 20 and she was wearing one of his shirts.”

Liz’ eyes widened in shock. “No way!”

“Yeah, so let me correct what I said earlier. I WANTED to be with him until today, now I’m not sure why anymore.”

“Well... maybe it wasn’t what it looked like?” She shrugged at Maria’s pointed look. “He sure seemed like he was really into you on Sunday, Maria.”

“Yeah tell me about it. We almost kissed in his kitchen.”

“Almost... you haven’t kissed him yet?”

“No, I wanted to make everything clear with Andy first.”

“That makes sense, I guess.” She chewed on her thumbnail for a moment. “Are you gonna confront Michael about that girl?”

“I don’t know, I met him later and I wasn’t really interested in an explanation since we can’t be together anyway and I just wanted to cancel our dinner.”

“I think you should definitely get an explanation from him.” She bit her lip. “And if his answer is one that makes sense, I don’t think you should give up on him either, Maria. I know Andy’s not handling the news well and it may be a while before he can deal with you moving on with that part of your life, but he’s gonna have to understand that it’s gonna happen eventually.”

“Eventually,” Maria sighed. “Guess that’s the key word here.”

“How will you know when the time’s right? What will make it right?”

“I don’t know, Liz. But I don’t wanna risk going back to where Andy and I were in Florida, or worse.”

Liz nodded. “I understand that.” She wouldn’t try to convince Maria otherwise because as a mother sometimes you had to put what you wanted on the back burner. “You’ll let me know if there’s anything I can do, right?”

“Same for you, girl,” Maria said back and hugged her friend again. “Mommy Liz.”

She grinned. “I’m so happy about it, Maria.”

“You should be. And you should probably come up with an alteration for your house, since the family is growing.”

“That’s true... I hadn’t even thought about that yet.”

“Well, I guess you still have time for that. The baby will be small for a while, no need to rush those things.”

“No, but, decorating the nursery is so much fun. Remember?” she asked, her eyes shining as she thought about her and Max fixing up the twins’ nursery.

“Yeah.” Maria smiled. The memories were still there and so clear even it had been over 16 years ago.

“I want this to be a good thing for us... I want Max to be happy and excited about it.”

“He will be, Liz. You know how much he loves kids.”

“He does and he’s such a wonderful father.”

“No doubt.”

“I think if he can get past seeing the risks he’ll be happy about it.”

“You’ll help him with seeing the positive sides.”

Liz smiled at Maria’s response. “I’m gonna do my best.”